Secrets To The Grave
by Moonlight Snowflake
Summary: Ever since her 15th Birthday Astrid has had little sleep, bad luck and near death experiences, all due to an angry ghost from the past who wants revenge, but why on Astrid ? She doesn't even know her. With the help of her friends, they must uncover a forgotten tale and fix the past before Astrid ends up joining her ghost in death. T just in case
1. Chapter 1

**(Oh Moonlight, why do you do this to yourself, like you don't have enough stories to worry about. Well it all started when I was having writer's block and decided to listen to music to clear my head, I end up finding this song called "Secrets" by Pierces. After a few plays it got stuck in my head and I just KNEW I had to make a story out of it, and my head wouldn't allow me to think of anything else until I did a chapter. So with that, here's _Secrets To The Grave_ !)  
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><p><em>For Your Entire Life You Have Lived In A Fantasy<em>

_Surrounded By People Who Simply Adored You_

_You Never Truly Had To Struggle Have You_

_But Don't Worry That Fairy-Tale Is Coming To An End_

_Soon Your Grief Will Make You Weak_

_But It Will Make Me Strong_

_My Time Is Closing In Now_

_For You Will Disappear _

_And No One Will Even Know It _

The lighting cracked like a fierce whip outside; rain hit the houses of Berk like shattered glass coming from the thunder clouds, so dark a grey that they looked rich black in the night sky, their signature rumbling to follow it. Storms were no rarity on Berk, a place famous for bad weather casualty, but the size of this storm would have had even the most stubborn of vikings boarding up the house.

Though it wasn't like anyone heard or took notice over the joyous sound of music and laughter mixing together, filling the Great Hall.

It was Astrid Hofferson's 15th birthday, one of the most celebratory warriors in her age-group. The hall was met with presents, music, friends and family, and a feast with mead to go along with it. Villagers could be seen either dancing to the music or enjoying the food and mead that was offered...especially the mead. Ironically, most who knew Astrid knew she wasn't one for parties, or any special occasion particularly; but even she herself couldn't help but laugh with sheer delight along with the others, watching her friends and family enjoy their-selves.

The small nudge and snort of the large nadder next to her made Astrid smile even more, reminding her further how their was more to celebrate this year. This was her first birthday with Stormfly, and her first where she didn't have to worry about a dragon raid and the roof burning down; the only fire she would have to see tonight was from the Great Hall hearth, giving a warm glow onto the patrons.

Unbeknownst to her, she was being watched.

Hiccup couldn't help but smile at Astrid, _especially_ the way she laughed. His best memories of her before the Red Death was her scowling or glaring daggers at everyone, especially him. And even now she still held that serious yet dignified demeanor with the utmost hold. This only made the sight of her letting herself go a little, a much more pleasant surprise.

"See something interesting son ?"

"Yeah-wait what ?" Hiccup turned around to see his father raising an eyebrow to him, even though he already knew the answer.

Hiccup's face was turning redder by the second. "Wait. . what. . who me.. nah. . .nothing interesting. . just uh. .um. . . " Hiccup slurred and stuttered words together in a jumble as he rushed to put his hands in his pockets. "Just you know. . .looking around is all".

Stoick, though clearly unconvinced just nodded with his son. "Ahh, well then I hope you find what you're looking for" he chuckled, giving his son a gleeful slap on the back and went along.

"_Oof"_

A simple slap to Stoick was practically a push to the floor for his son who quickly was about to make impact with it until something big and scaly caught him and allowed him to get back up on his feet.

Hiccup smiled and petted the reptile. "Thanks bud."

Toothless smiled, pupils big and round showing a friendly mood. Using his snout he sniffed down at Hiccup's vest -or rather what was_ inside_ the vest.

Now would be the perfect time to give Astrid his present. Hiccup listened closely, he could hear the sound of rain had dimmed dramatically._ Perfect_. The plan would be to race her to the cove and give it to her there, it gave off a more dramatic flare that way, plus he wouldn't have to feel the dozens of eyes watching him and whispering more rumors about him and Astrid. There were enough of those already. But alone, just the two of them would definitely be the better option in his opinion.

Hiccup had spent long nights in the forge getting it done. He had to do it at night because if anyone saw him in the day, it would only raise suspicion. _Hiccup_, of all people, wanting to rather work long hours in the forge, instead of going dragon flying ? There would be question, and he had made extra sure that no one would or _could_ ruin the surprise.

He walked around the Great Hall towards Astrid with her parents, laughing with the people around her and stroking Stormfly's snout. Her laugh made her eyes light up and the large, friendly smile showed her pearl like teeth; this sight only making Hiccup clam up, and become even more self-conscious.

"You know. . .she looks busy I'm just going to wait till tomor- _*ow*_" before he could walk out the door, Toothless manged a quick tail slap to the face of his rider, just before turning behind him and shoving him towards the birthday girl.

"Alright, alright I get it, thank you for your support" Hiccup said in his usual dry sarcasm, ignoring the strange laugh-like sound that came out of Toothless's throat. The teen took a deep breath and walked towards Astrid with Toothless following pursuit.

Mrs Hofferson looked up seeing the chief's son approaching them; the woman grinned and now took it upon her to excuse her and her husband from the two teenagers, Astrid's mother grabbed her husband's arm. "Dear can I talk to you over there ?"

The man raised an eye. "Can't you say it here-

"No, it has to be over there, come on" she spouted quickly as she shrugged her and her husband away towards the other end of the hall. It was practically a known fact to the people of Berk of the sorta-kinda-romance between the chief's son, and the Hofferson daughter; who was she to interfere?

Astrid cocked her head, confused at her mother's strange exit. "Well...that was weird ?"

"Yeah..." Hiccup agreed. "Anyway Astrid, I was wondering if-

_**"REEEEEEEEEEH"**_

Hiccup put his hands over his ears against the sound; before he even could finish his sentence, Stormfly had roared out a shrill dragon roar, stinging at Hiccup and Astrid's ear-drums. She shook her head, her body twitching, _trembling_, in utter great pain. Astrid gasped, looking up at her dragon and tried to put soft a hand on her snout. "Stormfly ? Girl ? Are...are you okay ?"

Hiccup turned around to see that Toothless too, was growling and shaking his body with agitation. His eyes have now become slits, and began biting his enacted teeth at the air as if some invisible force was causing his agony.

The wind outside had started to pick up, stray tree limbs, and small stones started hitting at the Great Hall and the rumbles of storm clouds grew louder and deeper.

Hiccup looked around the room, it wasn't just Toothless and Stormfly; all the dragons were acting in the same, aggressive behavior. Villagers were either stepping away from the frustrated animals or trying to get them under control.

Rain beated harder outside with such a ferocious tempo.

"Hey Toothless" Hiccup tried to pet his head. "What's wrong bud." Sadly, Hiccup's attempts were in vain as Toothless continued to cry out helplessly with his fellow reptiles, forcing Hiccup to step away to avoid getting accidentally snapped by one of his sharp teeth.

By now the chaos had taken everyone's attention, as the villagers were still trying to calm down their dragons, several began to rally around Hiccup for explanation.

"What's going on."

"What's happening to them."

"Fix it Hiccup!"

Stoick pushed the others out of his way, and towards his son, having to raise his voice in order to be heard over the crying beasts. "Hiccup! What in Odin't beard is going on with the dragons?"

The boy shook his head helplessly. "I don't know dad." Hiccup looked to where Toothless continued to snap out at the air around them, oblivious to his owner's confusion and pity. "It's like they can _sense_ something we can't."

With the shouts of villagers and cries of dragons making a ear bleeding harmony, the cracking of wood breaking had landed on death ears. The tension and chaos was more than evident until-

_**"SNAP!"**_

It was once a spine shivering, shot of blue lightning flashed across the sky, that the havoc ended. A shot so loud that even in all the commotion, every soul that night could look back and say, with the utmost truth, that they heard it.

With it, the Hall seemed to have freezed, all vikings and dragons alike frozen in place at the sound.

And just like that. It was as though the bolt had stopped everything.

The dragons lowered their heads and almost immediately calmed themselves down, most actually collapsing from exhaustion with a choir of thumps.

All became quiet.

Whoever, or whatever had been torturing the friendly beasts, had made a sudden and complete _**stop**_. Toothless himself groaned wearily to the floor, happy for the attack to be over. Though ironically, this was just in time for his eyes to roll over to his owner and notice the wooded pillar behind Astrid breaking and tipping closer towards her direction.

His green dragon pupils widened in fear and the night-fury raised his head for a loud cry of danger, demolishing the still silence. Rising up, he used his snout to turn Hiccup around to see what his dragon was alerting him for; a pillar was just about to fall and land on Astrid !

"ASTRID LOOK OUT!" Without thinking, Hiccup leaped into action, pushing and knocking both Astrid and himself to the ground just few feet from where she was standing. Both fell to the floor just in time for the wooden pillar to crash to the ground.

Gasps were made all around, some now circling around the fallen wood, and some surrounding themselves around the teenage couple that was almost crushed a mere moments ago.

"Are you two alright?" Stoick said, quickly approaching them, and full of concern.

Astrid nodded nervously as both she and Hiccup made it up to their feet. "Y..yeah" she muttered. "I'm...I'm fine, just a little...a little shaken up." The blonde warrior tried to sound reassuring, even though the shakiness of her voice was obvious, and she could feel her heart pounding fifty beats a second. Quickly, she turned her attention to Hiccup. "Hiccup!" She breathed. "You saved me..." Astrid smiled. "Thank you."

Hiccup gave his signature goofy grin, with a splash of pink blush. At least, right before realizing he still had his arms around her waist; the boy quickly wiggled his arms away and let go of her, replacing one hand to rub the back of his neck.

"Hey you would have done the same for me, I'm just glad you're okay".

Stoick nodded. "We better get the rest of these beams inspected, so we don't have another accident like that again" The chief commented, kneeling down to inspect the splintered end of where the pillar had broken and fell.

"Eh...I hate to tell you this Stoick, but this was no accident" a voice from the crowd said.

As people made loud (if not exaggerated) gasps, all eyes turned to the speaker, Gobber.

"What do you mean" Hiccup asked, just as puzzled as the rest of the public.

"I mean, if this was an accident, and it happened _right after_ the dragons started acting crazy seconds ago... it's just a little to coincidental if you ask me" Gobber explained.

Stoick narrowed his eyes, he had to speak fast before a riot of panic broke out; he looked at the people, now either worried or looking back at one another suspiciously. "Heh, heh" he forced out a laugh. "Come on Gobber, next you'll be telling us that it was the sock-stealing trolls that caused the storm." He joked, clearing his throat. "Hiccup?" he asked expectantly. "This is your department of expertise."

The heir nodded, understanding what his father was implying, and looked to the crowd head high. "Dragons are complex creatures, and we haven't been studying them for very long, there's still plenty we still don't know about them; but whatever happened to them, was no doubt a natural, _normal_ calamity in their nature, and rest assured it will be studied upon."

"What ever has happened, rest assure you all, that it will be found out, there will be an investigation in the morning, until then, all are to go to their homes and lock their doors, we'll continue this at breakfast tomorrow." Stoick added, ending the argument.

Everyone, though hesitantly, nodded and agreed with their chief's order; leaving the Great Hall to return to their own homes; with only a few small muttered accusations could be heard under peoples' breaths.

Hiccup turned to Astrid. "I uh...guess I'll see you tomorrow" Hiccup said awkwardly, unsure how to handle talking with the girl who had almost been flattened on the night of her birthday.

"Yeah" Astrid nodded, herself still feeling slightly gauche with the whole ordeal. "Tomorrow...okay, goodnight."

"Goodnight", Hiccup answered softly. Turning around he followed his father out the doors with Toothless trailing not too far behind.

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><p>Astrid and her parents were the last to leave, gathering up her presents and slowly walking back with Stormfly to the Hofferson household, which was only about a six minute walk. If they were lucky, the rain would not soak them too badly. However, it was about half-way up the silent walk back to their home, did Astrid suddenly noticed something yet to be addressed.<p>

The _storm ?_

It _stopped_ !

In fact, there wasn't even anything to indicate a storm ever even took place; the wet grass under Astrid's feet seemed to be the island's only piece of evidence for it.

But how?

The night had turned peaceful; now all was calm, leaving the only moving piece of weather to be a small, weak blowing wind. But the further they walked, maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, perhaps it was her nerves getting to her, or possibly, the subtle paranoia of the night; but to Astrid, the wind's whistles, sounded almost like a soft voice, whispering out for her.

_"I'm back"_.

**(Okay, so not the creepiest chapter, but it will get creepier as time goes on, hope you like it anyway, oh and because of copyright, **_**"I do not own any **__**part of the HTTYD franchise"**_**, well glad that's over, anyway read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	2. Chapter 2: A Dream and An Ax

**(For those who are wondering about "Coming Home" and "To The Future", don't worry, I haven't abandoned them, they both should be updated by Sunday at latest, but for now, I hope you like this chapter of "Secrets To The Grave", enjoy)**

The walk up to the Haddock house on top of the hill remained silent. No one questioned the lack of rain, no one mentioned the "almost" demise of one of Berk's greatest teen warriors, and no one conversed about how a investigation would be taken in the morning.

Everything was silent.

What had suppose to be an enjoyable evening had turned into a real-life nightmare. By the time Hiccup had reached his home all he wanted was to lie down and be given the gift of sleep. It was quite amazing how a near-death experience, no matter how quick, could wear a guy out, Hiccup still couldn't lower the loud and fast pumping sound in his chest from the fright.

Upon reaching their home, the silence didn't leave. Stoick turned to Hiccup, giving him a silent nod before turning back to his bedroom, Hiccup returned the signal as he led Toothless upstairs with him for the night.

When Hiccup reached his room, he plopped down onto his bed, getting under the furs. Toothless followed pursuit, wobbing over to his stone slate, using his fire to make a burn mark in it to warm his "bed".

"Goodnight bud"

The reptile gave a small nod in return and laied down on his rock slate.

Hiccup laied down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling, counting the dark knots embedded in the wood, listening to his heart-beat finally beginning to lower down to a steady cadence. His head filled with flashes back to the party, and though he didn't want to, Hiccup couldn't help but think of what might have happened if _maybe_ he was a moment, _just a moment_ too late.

The thought scared him.

Tired and stressed from the night's event's, the universe finally pitied the teen and allowed the calm relief of sleep to take his body.

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><p>The Berk forest, the sky looked a mix of blue and gray, the tree branches tangles together in twisting shapes. Hiccup allowed himself to walk down the hill of the forest, sinking him deeper within the dark brush. It seemed like hours of endless walking and Hiccup began to question what purpose there was in this dream, but then something made him pause his walking.<p>

_"If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain"_

A voice. A voice singing so soft and sweet, it sang so quietly, as though the owner of it was trying not to cry.

"Hello ?" Hiccup asked.

_"If you cut me with a knife I feel the same_"

What could make someone sing such sad lyrics ? Who could be so miserable that a cut through the knife would have no effect on their sadness ? Hiccup pondered this, running across tree to tree trying to track the singer.

_"And I know you're heart is beating, and I know that I am dead"._

_"But the pain here that I feel, try and tell me it's not real_"

Hiccup was now running and turning every corner he could, he needed to find the singer, to comfort them. To help them. No one should have to feel this way.

It sounded silly and perhaps strange, but somehow, Hiccup found himself _drinking_ in the song, every note, every sad melody, he **_felt_** it. He could feel the agony of the song's owner.

"Hello ?" he cried. "Please, let me help you" he called out louder.

"_For it seems that I still have a tear to shed_"

As the song came to a close, Hiccup felt his chest tightening and small bit's of water gloss his eyes, he found his legs no longer had the energy to keep moving, leaving his frozen to his spot. It was though the sadness of the singer and their song had made their way into Hiccup's very soul.

Suddenly, at the corner of his eye, he saw something. It was quick, but it was there, running past a tree.

"Hello ?" he asked again

Now he saw it clearly. . . .well, sort of ? A shadow run past another tree.

A _human_ sized shadow.

"WAIT" he called out and dashed in their direction.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help".

The shadow dashed away again, this time when he followed it, Hiccup became only a few feet away from it. All he could see was their back-side, and the fact that they had long, dark, black hair.

Finally Hiccup made it to a clearing in the wood.

But when he thought he had finally reached them, Hiccup looked around, all he saw were trees circled around him.

But no one else in sight.

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><p>In dream, Astrid was walking through complete darkness.<p>

"Hello, anyone here ?" she called. At first nothing, then came the faint sound of a giggle.

_"heh heh heh"_ it was soft, innocent and girlish, yet something about it was very _unsettling_. Hearing the giggle to be the only sound, Astrid followed it, as she ran through the darkness, it suddenly began to morph and change and soon shifted to become the Berk forest.

"Hello, where are you ?" she cried out. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw something go around a tree, like a gray and black blur, Astrid followed to the tree, but with nothing behind it.

_"heh heh heh"_ the giggle again, causing Astrid to turn around to see the blur going in the opposite direction. Once again Astrid followed pursuit, only to have it disappear the moment she arrived.

"What's going on" she turned around to turn back.

Again she followed their direction, "_heh heh heh_"

Lifting her head and up in a tree she could see the blur of a person sitting on a large branch. Astrid quickly put her body onto the pine, struggling, she dug her nails forcefully into the wood, and began to climb, while trying grabbing any spare tree limbs sticking out that she could use for support.

"_heh heh heh_"

Astrid's eyes widened, turning her head, she saw the shadowy blur giggling up at her.

From. The. _Ground_.

Right before running away again in the opposite direction.

_"__Uhhhg__"_ Astrid groaned, "you have _got_ to be kidding me". Astrid unclucked her nails from the tree bark and dropped down, landing gracefully onto the ground and running after the shadow.

She ran all the way through the forest until she reached a clearing, when she finally allowed her legs to stop she felt **exhausted**, bending her knees, trying to catch her breath from all her running and climbing.

Standing back up, Astrid slumped her shoulders in defeat. The blonde allowed a low sigh escape her lips, and was now ready to turn heel and leave to find something else in her dream forest.

But the moment she turned around, a face appeared only inches from her.

"Ahh" Dream Astrid shrieked, stepping back a few steps, "what in the world ?", the figure was of a girl, about Astrid's age, a face so pale and practically see through, her hair was long, dark, and flowing in the wind. She wore only a long, gray, sleeveless dress that looked slightly tattered at the end, the only other thing she wore was a small necklace.

But her eyes, her _eyes_, a light blue, even lighter than Astrid's, they chilled in icy cold and light pink lips that made a sinister smile, as if mocking the blonde's confusion.

The girl walked towards Dream Astrid, who now wanted to run away, but found herself not being able to move, not even have kept the ability to close her eyes to try and block the figure out.

As she was once again face to face with Astrid, the girl's smile deepened.

Her ice cold eyes sparked with life

She slowly put one finger to her lips. . .

_"Shhhhhh"_

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><p>Astrid's eyes shot opened to find herself back in her room and breathing heavily, putting one head to her fore-head she found herself covered in sweat, but that didn't help the fact that right now Astrid felt like she was in an ice box, the room was <em>freezing. S<em>he shivered in her blankets. But she must have slept through the night because the blonde soon heard the sound of a nadder tapping at the glass of her window, ready for a morning flight.

Happy to see a familiar friendly face, she quickly went out of her bed and put on her boots to unlock the window so she could pet the reptile, hoping it could ease her nerves.

But it didn't.

For as soon as Stormfly put her head into the bedroom, she began to whimper and shake her head.

Just like the night before.

Seeing the distressed dragon, Astrid went to pet her head to sooth her. But the moment she was close enough, Stormfly grabbed Astrid with her mouth, put her on her back,and flew away.

"Stormfly, put me down" Astrid demanded, but to no avail, it seemed like Stormfly wanted to get as far from the house as possible. _But why_ ?

The nadder landed near at the Great Hall, where she'd usually land after a morning flight, as if trying to pretend that whole, 'kidnapping-her-rider' thing never even happened.

Astrid sighed, she might as well get some breakfast, at least she remembered to put on her boots first, though her armor, ax, leather skirt and headband were all still in her room, but from the way her dragon acted, now wasn't the best time to try and go back, she could always borrow a spare ax from the academy later. She turned to face Stormfly, "no chicken this morning", and she went inside.

It seemed people were just now getting into the Great Hall, there were only a few in the building and some quickly followed in after her, she grabbed her food and a mug, but now again developed the feeling of being watched, except this time, she actually was, looking around she saw others looking at her while she walked towards the teenagers table, but would quickly turn back their heads once she acknowledged them.

Hiccup seemed to be the only one there, while the rest of them were still getting breakfast, but he was so wrapped up in his notebook to notice her.

"Hey Hiccup" Astrid said but no response.

The blonde sat beside him and poked at his arm, "Hiccup".

"Huh, what, oh hey Astrid. . . . wow" Hiccup's emerald eyes widened, "you look. . . . . ._different_". She did indeed, her soft, straight, smooth, blonde hair was no longer in it's original braid.

But down pass her shoulders, which lacked of it's usual armor pads. Her skirt also lacked it's leather spike interior and was now just a smooth scarlet under skirt, her ax was no longer at her side either. The lack of metal and the downed hair made her look less intimidating, but also not as stiff as she usually was, and Hiccup certainly didn't mind.

"Huh, oh yeah, the weirdest thing, I wake up and as usual open my window for Stormfly, next thing I know she just grabs me and flies off, I don't even get a chance to grab my armor before I'm lifted up into the air" Astrid explained.

"Hey you don't hear me complaining babe" the two vikings turned to find Snotlout taking a seat across from them.

Astrid smiled, "aw thanks Snotlout", and she took a seat near him, "that's so nice of you, in fact here" .

_*Punch*_ right in the arm.

"Just be happy I don't have my ax" she spat and returned back to her seat with Hiccup.

"Wow what's with you", Tuffnut said as him and his sister took their seats.

Astrid scowled at them, "what do you mean" ?

"Hey cool it", Ruffnut said, hands up in front of her, "we're just saying that you seem a little more violent than normal, you don't usually threaten with an ax over a stupid, pitiful pick-up line".

"Yeah. . . .wait what" Snotlout said, trying to think whether he'd just been insulted or not.

Astrid huffed, "look I just had a bad sleep okay, so I'm a little on edge".

Fishlegs approached the table, "Well it is understandable, near death experiences can leave people with little sleep, paranoia, and quick temper".

Snotlout rolled his eyes, "thank you Professor of Useless Knowledge".

Tuffnut chuckled, "oh yeah that, when Hiccup saved his "precious girlfriend"

This making Hiccup choke on his water, "_*cough* *cough*_, excuse me".

Ruffnut laughed with her brother, "hey man, **_I_** wasn't the one with my arms around her".

"She was almost _crushed_ by a pillar !" Hiccup defended, getting irritated.

"Yeah, besides he didn't _save_ her, so he pushed her to the ground, big deal" Snotlout groaned.

The twins began to debate, "but. . . .

"Would you just shut up already", Astrid said, "let's just go to training alright, before our dragons get impatient", she added, wanting to change the subject. But as everyone rose from the table and walked out to the arena. . . .

_*woah*_, Astrid tripped on something and fell to the ground, Hiccup quickly helped her get to her feet, "you okay ?"

"Yeah just tripped" she rested her eyes to the floor, "on my _ax_ ?" she exclaimed, checking it, it was definitely her ax.

"I thought you said you didn't grab it before Stormfly carried you off ?" Hiccup asked.

"I didn't. . . .at least. . . . I don't _think_ I did ".

Hiccup was quick to shrug it off, "it was early in the morning, let's just go before we get too far behind ".

Astrid nodded, "yeah let's go" and she went to follow her friends out the Great Hall.

**( Well a little more creepier, hope you like it, as usual please read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	3. Chapter 3: Katherine

**(Hello and welcome back, sorry for the wait, I've had some writers block for this story and was trying to fix the outline, but I'm back now, and be sure to review afterward. . . .please, I really like reviews, helps drive me in writing with that said, on with the show)**

Astrid and Hiccup were luckily able to catch up with the rest of the team to the dragon training academy. But Astrid still couldn't quake away what happend to the ax, she could have sworn it was still in her room when Stormfly carried her off. Could she may have taken it right before her dragon went crazy, and why _did_ she act crazy to begin with ? Did it have anything to do with that dream last night ?

_"No that's crazy"_ Astrid thought, though now, the more she thought about it. . . .

_The less she could remember of the dream._

Once they reached the academy they found the others waiting for them. "Well now that we're all here, let's start shall we" Gobber stated, the teenagers circled around him, waiting for direction. "Today we'll be working on fighting in combat _without_ your dragon, let's pair up, Snotlout your with Fishlegs, twins you go together and Astrid your with Hiccup"

Hiccup turned to Astrid, "please don't break anything".

She smiled, "I make no promises".

They readied their positions, the minute Hiccup raised his hand to do a blow, Astrid grabbed his wrist, and spun it around his back and pinned his down, a quick and easy victory.

Astrid, of course thought she won but as she kept her grip on Hiccup's wrist, her shoulder began to develope a sharp stinging pain.

Now becoming worse by the the second. At first was easy to ignore, but in a matter of seconds, Astrid felt as though her shoulder was on _fire_, the burn twisted inside her skin like a knife and the hair's on her back stood up straight.

The blonde warrior gritted her teeth in defiance, refusing to give in, but the stinging refused to cease. It was as if someone was twisting, pinching and clawing at her shoulder.

"AHH" Astrid hissed, finally having to take notice of the irritation. Releasing Hiccup's wrist, she turned her head around to who was twisting at her shoulder

. . . .but no one was there.

She turned her head left and right to see who it was but all there was, was Hiccup, now puzzled at her sudden stop and everyone else was with their partner.

"ASTRID DUCK"

"Wait what" Astrid looked up to see her ax headed right towards her, she allowed herself a high pitched scream as she ducked her head just in time for the blade to go above her and hit the rock wall of the arena.

By this time everyone was now looking up at her, Astrid turned to see the ax still stuck in the rock, the look of pure shock and fear, quickly melted away into a look of anger and aggravation. She walked to where her ax was, wrapped her fingers around the wooden handle and forcefully pulled the blade out of the rock. Looking at her reflection in the weapon, her anger began to boil at an rapid rate. The blonde's head turned to the vikings staring at her, blue eyes filled with rage.

"WHO THREW THIS, WHO ?"

No one would dare to speak up.

"IS THIS SOMEBODY'S IDEA OF A JOKE ?", everyone stayed silence.

"Fine" she spat out with as much spite and venom she could put into the word.

With that said, Astrid called for Stormfly, boarded her and flew out of the arena.

"Astrid wait" Hiccup cried out but Gobber put a meaty hand on his shoulder, "let her cool down first lad or you might be loosen another limb as well".

Gobber turned to the rest of the group, "but back to where we were, which one of you threw the ax, come on, speak up".

But just like before, the arena stayed in silence, Gobber frowned and narrowed his eyes, "uh huh, alright then".

He looked at the remaing riders, "hmm" he pondered, "was it you Snotlout ?"

"What, no, ask Fishlegs, I was busy beating his but, right legs"

Fishlegs nodded, "yeah he's right he was busy beating... HEY".

"Well how about you two" Gobber pointed.

Ruffnut stopped him, "hey we might not be the smartest, but even we aren't stupid enough to put a blade at Astrid".

Tuffnut agreed, "yeah, she'd have us dodging nadder spines for hours. . . .hmm nadder spine dodging, can we try that ?".

Hiccup looked to the crack in the wall from where the battle ax was, "well if none of _us_ did it

. . . .than who did ?"

* * *

><p>Later that day, now that he was sure she cooled down, Hiccup flew Toothless and found Astrid on Stormfly, "hey Astrid". She turned around to find Hiccup smiling at her, she slowed down so he could catch up.<p>

"Hey Hiccup, look I'm sorry about earlier at the arena" she smiled weakly but Hiccup shook his head, "there's no need to apologize, you had all reason to get upset, I'm just glad your okay".

"Thanks Hiccup"

Almost immediately, a new idea popped into Hiccup's head, "well now that your feeling better. . . how about a race to the cove".

Astrid's lips broke out a grin, "oh your so on".

"Great, 123GO" he rushed the words together so fast that before Astrid had time to think, he was gone.

Hiccup allowed himself to laugh at his soon-to-be easy victory, he knew Astrid was storming after him, he knew she'd be upset with him once they landed, but he also knew she'd be laughing about it soon afterwards, plus it'd help get her mind off this whole ordeal.

But as he flew he started to notice something.

He couldn't see Astrid. Though Stormfly wasn't as fast as Toothless, she still was pretty quick, they had to at least have gotten into vision distance by now.

Confused, Hiccup bended his knee back in order to fold Toothless's tail to slow down, "come on bud, we should turn back".

"Astrid", Hiccup called "Astrid" but no answer. "Astrid".

After several minutes of no reply, he decided she was probably already at the cove until. . .

"Hiccup ?. . . . HICCUP !"

The young viking turned his head, "Toothless, find Astrid", the Night Fury nodded his head and quickly picked up speed in where the direction the cry came from. Sure enough the voice became louder.

"HICCUP", they followed the sound. "HICCUP"!

Hiccup's eyes widened, his heart dropped and all his instincts told him to panic.

Astrid was dangling from a cliff, holding on to an old root on the edge ! "HELP".

"Astrid calm down, what ever you do don't. . . ._*snap*_,

The root gave out.

"HICUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP"

Astrid was falling out of the sky !

"ASTRID", Hiccup yelled after her.

Toothless dove down to catch the falling female. He saw her 20 feet away from the ground.

"Astrid give me your hand" Hiccup called holding it out.

*8 feet*

Astrid desperately pushed her arms through the falling air to reach out for his hand.

*5 feet*

Hiccup leaned in a close as he could without falling off the dragon.

*2 feet*

The tops of his fingers were slowly coming closer to the tips of her fingernails.

*12 inches*

and then. . . .

"GOT IT"

Astrid grabbed Hiccup's hand and quickly pulled herself onto Toothless's back as the reptile flew back up to the sky and flew towards the direction of the cove.

They reached the cove and Astrid quickly jumped off, giving a sigh of relief, "I have never been so relieved to feel the ground under my feet in my life"

Hiccup nodded, "I can imagine" but his smile quickly melted, "what happened" he asked.

Astrid shook her head "I honestly don't know, one minute I was with Stormfly and the next I find myself being lunged to the side of the cliff" Astrid approached the cove pond. "Maybe a quick drink will ease my nerves".

Hiccup smiled, "yeah, almost plummeting to your death can leave you quite parched". Astrid chuckled at him and cupped her hands towards the water.

"AHHHHHHHHH" Astrid shrieked.

The girl from the night before, dark hair, icy eyes and all, smiling at her inside the water ripples.

"Astrid what's wrong" Hiccup asked approaching her, she took in heavy breaths, but when Astrid looked back all she could see was her own reflection.

Aggravated, Astrid swatted at the water, scaring any fish inside it, "Nothing !" she spat, "nothing is wrong".

Hiccup gave her a puzzled look, "but you just. . .

"don't you have some stupid flying stunt or something" she interrupted.

Hiccup backed away a few steps noticing a fine difference in her tone than before, knowing what ever he'd say next would just make her mad.

"Alright" he answered weakly, "see you later" and with that he and Toothless were off again.

* * *

><p>Later at night, Hiccup flew to the Great Hall, hoping maybe Astrid was feeling better, then he could ask her what was bothering her, clearly <em>something<em> was. However he wasn't so lucky, as he approached the table, he saw Astrid with a very angered look on her face.

"Okay which one you did it, come on, I know it was one of you, probably the same one who threw an ax to my head" she said accusingly.

"Look I didn't do it, if you think that" Snotlout defended.

"And how do I know that, as far as I know it could have been you".

Hiccup sat down, "what's going on".

Astrid gave him an evil glare, "I found Stormfly later today, at the beach, covered in _Dragon Nip_, and Dragon Nip doesn't grow down at the beach, it was somebody's idea of a prank"

"A prank that almost got me_ killed_"

Hiccup could see she was aggravated, he placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down "Astrid I know Snotlout and the twins like to joke around, but we're all still your friends, you know that none of us would try and sabotage your dragon, not even them".

"Oh really Hiccup, then who was it, maybe it was you"

Hiccup was shocked, "Astrid I'm the one who _caught_ you from falling"

Astrid snorted, "whatever, I'm out of here".

With that she stormed out, it was several minutes till someone broke the silence.

"Awkward" Tuffnut said, earning a punch from his sister.

* * *

><p>As Hiccup walked home that night he became lost in thought, should he apologize to Astrid, but what was there to apologize for ? He <em>saved<em> her from falling off a cliff, and she just get's mad at him, who does that ?

_"You deserve better"_

Hiccup turned around, "who said that ?" he whispered quietly.

Was someone following him ?

Now walking a bit faster to up the hill to his house, he tried to shake it off as just wariness of the night, it was late, he was tired, and all he wanted to do was meet his bed, he didn't want to deal with imaginary voices.

Walking to his home, up the stairs and into his bed, he pulled the covers over him, in a matter of minutes he was asleep.

* * *

><p>Once again in dream, the image of the Berk forest formed around him. Hiccup smiled, the forest of dream seemed to bring forth a feel of <em>comfort<em>, somehow. Something about it made it seem unworldly yet appealing to the scrawny boy. But as he walked, his senses soon caught the scent of lavender, that began to grow stronger with every step he took.

_"If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain"_

Hiccup paused, the voice sounded closer than before.

Much closer.

_In the ice or in the sun it's all the same_

Now walking ever so quietly, he followed the sound of the voice. In fact the tune almost seem to lead him where he needed to go. Like it wanted to be with him. Like it _belonged_ with him.

_"Yet I feel my heart is aching"_

_"Though it doesn't beat it's breaking"_

Hiccup gasped softly, in the middle of a clearing of trees he could see the owner of the voice. He became aghast, she was beautiful, radiant, even. Her hair was ebony black and flew gently across her face in a soft breeze, a face pale and fair, like it was made out of creamy porcelain. Her hands were crested around her heart and her eyes were closed, indicating how wrapped up she was in her song, so much she wasn't aware of his presence.

_"And the pain here that I feel"_

_"Try and tell me it's not real"_

Hiccup once again felt drowned into the song himself with the utmost sympathy for her.

_"I know that I am dead"_

_"Yet it seems that I still have a tear to shed"_

A single droplet left her eye.

Know that the song was over, Hiccup allowed himself to move forward. Walking up to the mysterious beauty he placed a hand on her shoulder.

She gasped in surprise, her body tensed up and her eyes shooted right open. Now Hiccup could see them, they were blue, crystal blue, and shining with light from the moon reflecting off them.

Afraid she'd flee again, Hiccup quickly let go of her shoulder to relax her and explain. "No, it's okay, it's okay, I don't want to hurt you, I want to help you".

The figure looked up at him and relaxed herself , immediately her soft pink lips now formed a innocent smile.

"Hello" she spoke softly.

"Hello" Hiccup repeated, looking at her bright eyes and her sweet smile, he almost had the urge to put his closer to hers but she quickly sat up. Hiccup was just about to grab her wrist, tell her not to leave, but then she took his hand, her skin was cool and soft, she tugged at his hand ever so gently, addressing for him stand up which he quickly obliged.

"You heard me sing" she stated.

Hiccup nodded, "it was beautiful. . . . but sad".

The girl nodded slowly, "much sadness has befallen me" she looked back up at him, cupping his head in her palms as though a means of comfort. "Much has befallen you as well hasn't it".

Suddenly, images of Astrid's outburst, accusations, and fits covered him mind. Her face scrunched up, lips in a cold scowl, and eyes filled with total rage, ready to kill him. Hiccup didn't like it, he shook his head to rid himself of these images and instead return to the kind and elegant face of the girl in front of him.

He nodded to her, "yeah" he said softly, "I believe so".

She gave a soft smile of sympathy, "whenever I've been hurt by someone, I try to forget it" she squeezed his hand, "do you know how I try to forget ?"

"How" Hiccup asked, becoming more and more intrigued with this person.

She smiled and looked up at the full moon, she sighed, "I've spent so long in the darkness that I've nearly forgotten how beautiful moonlight is".

Hiccup could feel her hand leave his, and slowly slip away, looking up he found her laughing, twirling gracefully and elegantly around the trees, spinning and turning ever so delicately. Her gray dress flowed with her in the breeze, like a small flame, flickering in a mesmerizing flowing fashion, or swan flying carefully to show the flow of it's feathers. She now began to dance around him, her small enticing smile never leaving his face. All the while the sweet smell of lavender grew sweeter ever minute in his senses.

Now going slower, she took hold of his hands. "Would you like to dance ?" she asked, soft and innocently.

Hiccup was just about to follow but shook his head at the last second, "I can't".

The girl giggled, her laugh was so sweet and angelic, "in a dream you can do anything you want, and be with _anyone_ you want", she said, keeping her hands curved in with his. Hiccup accepted her offer and rose from the stump, a sudden break of confidence surged through him.

"But wait, we need music" she said, and made a quick flick of her wrists.

Hiccups ears began to hear sounds. The sounds of chimes, like the ones in a music box, joined soon by the smooth sound of violins that became mixed with light sounds of flutes, he allowed his hand to take hers, and his other to fall to her waist as her other hand fell to his arm.

Almost automatically, without little thought he lead her through, drifting into the music, astonished that he didn't once step on her toes or clumsy led them into a tree, "you are a amazing dancer" he complemented.

She smiled, "it's quite easy when you have a good partner", Hiccup blushed. It felt like hours of blissful dancing until "who are you ?" he asked finally.

"If you would like to know, my name is Katherine"

"Katherine" he breathed, now looking around at his surroundings, he became worried "is this real ?" he was almost afraid to know the answer.

"Hmm" she pondered, "well no _this_ specifically isn't" she answered teasingly, "but _your_ real, and _I'm_ real ".

Hiccup's eyes brightened "you are !"

She giggled at his response, "yes indeed", Katherine twirled out of his arms and sat down to the old tree stump, she patted the other side of it, inviting him to sit with her.

Once Hiccup sat down, the beauty looked to him with sad eyes, she took her hand and began to caress his cheek, he took a breath of bliss as the continued to stroke his cheek with her soft hand.

"But our time together tonight is fleeing, your going to wake up any moment".

"But what will happen to you"? Hiccup asked, he didn't want her to leave.

"When you go to sleep, all you have to do is call for me, but before I go, will you promise me something ?"

"Yes, anything".

"Promise me you won't tell anyone about me, let's just keep this. . . . . _our little secret_".

He nodded, "I will", with that she put her head closer to his

"Until next time" she whispered. He leaned in closer as well until they were only inches from each other. Hiccup tried to steady his breathing but it wasn't working, his heart was pounding in his throat, his eyes went closed, the scent of lavender filled his senses strong and sweet.

But once he opened his eyes again, he was in his bedroom, no forest, no lavender, no Katherine, he was in his bed.

It was a few seconds before he realized how cold he was, shivering he quickly put on his fur vest. Toothless was still asleep, how odd, Toothless was usually Hiccup's wake up call. The dragon rider approached his reptile's stone slab.

"Hey bud, wanna go flying" Toothless's ears perked up, happy to be with his rider, but once he got a good smell of Hiccup, his eyes turned into slits and slowly backed away from the boy.

"Toothless, bud it's me" but it wasn't Hiccup Toothless was growling at, the dragon was looking intense _past_ Hiccup, like someone was behind or beside him. Hiccup turned around, and sure enough, the only thing behind him was the wall.

Hiccup tried to approach his dragon "Toothless there's nothing here, what are you growling at ?" But the reptile ran past Hiccup and started growling louder and more forcefully, except at no one, he was snapping at the air.

Snapping, growling, barking at completely nothing.

"Toothless there's nothing there" Hiccup urged and started to tug at Toothless's bridle.

Seeing his rider persist leaving Toothless gave one more snap at the air and went downstairs with Hiccup for breakfast.

**(What does Katherine want with Hiccup, why does she want to kill Astrid, why am I asking these questions when I already know the answers, well anyway, I hope you enjoy, believe or not, I got the entire idea of Hiccup's dream from listening to the beginning scene of the Haunted Mansion film and the Moonlight Dance scene from Corpse Bride, well anyway read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	4. Chapter 4: Breakfast

**(READ THIS FIRST, It's been a long time hasn't it, I have procrastinated on all my fics, if you go to my profile, you will find an apology for everyone of my readers on the lack of updates, I hope you can accept it, with that said, here's chapter 4)**

As Hiccup walked up towards the Great Hall for breakfast, Toothless began to turn back towards his regular self, happily following Hiccup in expectant for morning fish, what-ever had happened to him back there, Hiccup wasn't sure, in fact he hardly put a thought in it, his thoughts traveled mostly to Katherine.

"Katherine" he breathed, " a name so elegant, so regal, so beautiful-_she_ was beautiful", he didn't know why, but he couldn't get her out of his head, her arousing scent of lavender, her crystal blue eyes, filled with such kindness and admiration.

_"Unlike Astrid"_

Hiccup stopped walking, where'd that thought come from, as if someone just put that idea into his head without him realizing it. Toothless cocked his head at his rider in confusion at his sudden pause. But Hiccup was quick to shrug it off, he looked down to find Toothless staring at him intensely, as if almost waiting for him to say something.

"Don't worry bud I'm fine"

Toothless kept looking at him in concern.

"Really bud, I'm alright. . . . .just _tired_ is all" and continued on his way to breakfast.

* * *

><p><em>Dragon POV<em>

Though Hiccup's usual goofy smile gave him _some_ reassurance, something didn't feel right to the night-fury, first he woke up later than usual, they didn't even get a sunrise flight in, then when he _did_ wake up, he found his rider, but something was. . . . _off_ about him, something didn't smell right, and following was the presence of that_ thing. _He defended his territory, snapping at it to go away, right before Hiccup pulled at him to let go. What-ever it was, it wasn't good, at least not to Toothless, he'd have to talk to the others about this.

Once they had reached the Great Hall, Hiccup went inside while Toothless went towards the Feeding Station, Hiccup invented it last autumn, it was a separate part of machinery near the Great Hall used for dragons to eat, distributing fish for the reptiles. The usual gang was their, Stormfly Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch and a few other dragons.

"Hey guys" Toothless called out to them.

"Hey Tooth" Stormfly said cheerily, "over here, they got some sea-bass this morning".

"My favorite", but as the others continued gulping down the sea-life, Toothless found his appetite ruined by his train of thought, just staring down at his fish pondering over about Hiccup.

Stormfly pulled her head out of her meal and turned to see her night-fury friend had hardly touched his.

"Toothless what's wrong ?" the nadder asked worried.

"Nothing"

The others had started turning their heads up to see what the issue was.

"Your not eating" Stormfly pointed out.

Toothless shrugged, "guess I'm not all that hungry".

Stormfly eyed him suspiciously, "not hungry ?, _You_, of all dragons are not hungry ?" she replied clearly not believing his excuse.

"Well if you won't eat them I will" Hookfang volunteered, this earning him a slap from Stormfly's, (luckily not spiked out) tail.

"Ow"

"Next time I'll bring out the spines" Stormfly threatened before turning back to Toothless, "come on we're your friends, tell us what's going on".

Toothless sighed, "your going to think I sound crazy".

Stormfly laughed, "Tooth, two years ago, it'd be crazy to say that I'd one day voluntarily allow a_viking_ with an ax to ride on my back everyday-and yet here we are".

Toothless chuckled, "alright. . . .do. . do you remember that celebration a few nights back".

They nodded.

"and the. . . ._incident_ ?"

They all shuddered at the memory, during the celebration, out of nowhere, a hard pang went into their skulls, like something was _clawing_ at their brains, _rattling_ their heads around, nothing like they had ever felt.

It was scary.

"Have. . . .have any of you felt anything like that since then ?" Toothless asked worried.

"Hmmmm, well now that you mention it, the arena seemed a little _off_, yesterday" Meatlug pitched.

"Oh yeah, right after that ax hurled got at blonde" Hookfang laughed but quickly shut up once he saw Stormfly engage the spikes on her tell.

"Why do you ask ?" Stormfly said.

"I don't know why, and I don't how. . .but this morning, something. . . didn't seem right, I felt another presence in the room . . .I felt something _bad_ in the room".

"You too" Stormfly said aghast.

"Wait, you felt something wrong"

Stormfly nodded, "just yesterday morning, Astrid opened the window, but the moment I put my head in, I knew something was off, something dreadful. . ., something. . . . something _evil_".

"Well what did you do" Meatlug asked getting engrossed in her friends stories.

"Well I did what any sensible dragon would do. . . . .pulled her out against her will, and fly off".

The others rolled their eyes but quickly got back on subject once Toothless spoke again.

"Don't you see, something horrible is going on here, something BIG, we all need to keep an extra close eye around here-and for the time being-

"Would you just listen to yourself !" All reptilian eyes turned to Hookfang, "all this talk about _"evil spirits"_is nothing more than hatchling stories, it's not real !"

"I KNOW WHAT I FELT HOOKFANG" Stormfly persisted, "there's something _very_ wrong on Berk, and I'm not going to risk my rider's safety because of it" she snapped.

"Oh my poor Fishlegs" Meatlug whimpered.

"Don't worry Meatlug, we just need to keep an eye out, no harm will come to your rider" Toothless soothed.

Hookfang rolled his eyes, "well while your all worried about "_imaginary evil_" **I'm** going to stay in **reality** and enjoy my breakfast".

Unknown to Toothless or any of the other dragons, they were so busy in their conversation, that the angry boy storming out of the Hall into the woods didn't catch anyone's eye.

* * *

><p>Hiccup entered the Great Hall, and as usual his friends were all seated eating their breakfast, and as usual he sat beside of Astrid. Once he was seated down, and Astrid noticed his presence, she became shyer and turned her head away, as if she was embarrassed to see him.<p>

"Look Hiccup, I'm. . .I'm sorry, about yesterday really I am, I don't know what came over me last night"

Hiccup smiled, pleased she apologized. "hey don't worry about it, you had some tension, understandable you had to break out some steam".

"Steam, ha, more like a geyser" Tuffnut joked.

"Okay I don't know whether to hit you, or applaud that you actually know what a geyser is" Astrid replied.

But everyone quickly resumed to eating their breakfast, unlike most vikings, Hiccup wasn't a big meat eater, it wasn't that he didn't like it, but instead of piles of meat put on his plate, he preferred a simple bowl of porridge with maybe a little sausage mixed into it.

Things were going normally until _*flunk*_ Astrid suddenly felt a small, sticky glob hit her cheek. Letting go of her fork and placing three fingers on the wet skin, she wiped the glob off her face and into her hand, showing it as a small bit of white, sticky porridge. Her first instinct was to look over at Snotlout and the twins, but they seemed to be wrapped up in a nice little game of, "who can hit Tuffnut the hardest", and Fishlegs was watching the "game" worriedly. Astrid glanced Hiccup's way, but he wasn't paying attention to the others or her, just staring off into space, daydreaming, _humming_ to himself ? But what got Astrid's main attention was the end of his bowl slightly dripping.

_"Alright then Hiccup"_ Astrid thought, _"if that's how you want it"_. She herself had a small bowl to go with her ham and sausage, putting a little on her fork, she flinged it at Hiccup's cheek. Satisfied she hoped she made her point and continued eating.

At the corner of his eye Hiccup saw Astrid fling the porridge his way, but he quickly swallowed any anger, wiped it off with a napkin and tried to ignore what just happened, _"it's just Astrid relieving some stress"_ he thought, _"she'd been through a lot yesterday"_, and continued eating.

But then Astrid felt a hard kick to her knee, she winced slightly, not a playful kick, it felt like someone was almost trying to break it ! Turning again to Hiccup who just continued with his breakfast, as though nothing had happened.

Astrid already was short on patience and was not in the mood for this, anger rising, she looked down, luckily she was sitting on the right side of the table. Making sure her aim was at the non-metal leg, she rocked her foot back and with as much force she could muster and-

"OW !" Hiccup yelled, it was one thing to fling a little porridge, it was another to try and break a guy's only foot.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM !" Astrid yelled, wanting to know his excuse for this morning.

"WHAT'S_ YOUR_ PROBLEM !" Hiccup yelled back, he didn't do anything, **she** was the one who threw the porridge, **she** was the one who tried to break his leg off and now she's asking what's **his** problem !

By this time, the yelling had caught the attention of all of the other vikings in the Great Hall, eyes staring at the two, not like either noticed.

Astrid's anger changed into surprise at Hiccup yelling. Hiccup **never** yells ! Said boy must have noticed her reaction because his features quickly turned back into their soft caring ways.

"Look Astrid, I understand your upset, but you don't have to take it out on all of us-

"NO" she yelled.

Astrid couldn't explain it, but for some reason, her anger began to boil once again, here she was having food hit her, foot kick her, and someone yelling at her, then they say they "understand", well Astrid Hofferson wasn't going to have any of that.

"NO Hiccup you DON'T understand" she continued, causing Hiccup to take a few steps back in surprise of her outburst, "so why don't you just hop on your dragon, work on some stupid contraption, or anything else completely _USELESS_."

The moment it was said everyone in the room gasped, Astrid clamped both hands on her mouth now in realization and immediate regret, watching Hiccup's eyes widen then darken.

_Useless._

That one word that held an entire child-hood of neglect, self-doubt and lack of self-worth, the one word that for 14 years was what everyone said described Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Though he didn't show it, those memories of sadness would always cling to Hiccup, he wouldn't dwell on it, but the emotional scars of those days would forever stay with him.

The room was silent for several minutes until Astrid got the courage to break it, " Hiccup I didn't mean t-

But the chief's son just put both his hands up in front of him for silence, "You know what, just forget it, . . . Just. Don't. Bother. That's what your good at."

And with that Hiccup stormed out the Great Hall.

"HICCUP WAIT" Astrid cried out, but the boy shut the large wooden doors behind him. Astrid sunk back down into her seat, head down in her hands.

"What have I done"?

Unknown to all of them a unseen figure smiled at her work, and like a soft breeze in the wind she whispered-

"_What have you've done indeed_"

**(Well it seems that Katherine's presence hasn't gone unnoticed by the dragons, and that she isn't limiting her mischief to dreams and killing ****attempts, now that she has Hiccup mad at Astrid, what does she plan next, next chapter should be out by the end of the week at latest with that said Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake Signing Off)**


	5. Chapter 5: Down At The Cove

**(Hellooo people, I said this would be out by the end of the week, it's Sunday sooooo, does that count ? It is the day of rest, which is supposedly the last day of the week, sooooo I'm going to count it)**

**(READ THIS PART, now the song that inspired me to write this, some lines of it will be in this chap. so you might want to listen to it before you read, I think it'll bring more suspense when it comes up, it's called "Secrets" by The Pierces, with that said, on with the story)**

Hiccup ran as fast as his legs could carry him, ignited with anger, all he wanted was get out of that building and as far away from Astrid as possible. How could she just humiliate him like that, treat him as if everything he had done for the tribe didn't matter, ending the war, defeating the Red Death, and all she can do is just describe how useless he is ? Even the things she describe, they weren't useless. Sure his inventions were a work in progress but they are always for the good of the village, flying Toothless wasn't useless, what if they were in a attack and needed air patrol, a boy who couldn't fly his dragon, _that_ would be useless.

Blinded by his conflagration of rage, Hiccup didn't even know where he was going, or became concerned of the fact that ,though he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, he never once hit a tree or bush, in fact it almost seemed like his legs had some sort of mind of there own, leading him to where ever they wished to go in the thick brush of land. Until his body stopped at the cove, by the water spring, and his mind still veiled in animosity.

"I'm not USELESS", Hiccup yelled, swatting at the water, making it billow and ripple into furrows of jagged lines, but once the water gained focus and cleared, Hiccup gasped.

Once his reflection could be seen, for a split two seconds, before turning into a look of shock, Hiccup didn't look like himself.

His features scrunched together, eyes darkened, beady and pouring out hate and a chilling, belittling scowl shaped his lips. For a split two seconds, Hiccup became afraid of _himself_, where did all that hate come from. Was he angry, of course he was, but he didn't_ hate_ Astrid, though he was deeply hurt, he felt betrayed mostly.

"Do you want to talk about it ?" the scent of lavender drowned into the cove by the sound of that sweet and loving voice.

Hiccup turned around for the dark haired beauty. Her icy blue eyes filled with nothing but compassion and concern for him. He was at first, utterly grateful to have a sympathetic soul joining him, but soon became happily amazed and stunned.

"Katherine ?, how. . . .how are you here ?"

She gave a lighthearted laugh, a laugh that could make him feel like he was floating on air. "I thought you could use a friend", she placed her hand on his, "a _real_ friend".

Hiccup suddenly became wary, "you know ?" he asked shyly, embarrassed to know she saw such a display.

Katherine nodded sadly, "yeah,. . . . it was wrong the way she treated you, _I_ would never had done that".

She cupped his head in her hand, he breathed at the touch, cool and blissful. Katherine whispered in his ear, making him shiver, "luckily I know how to make it better".

The tips of her fingers began to glow a light blue, same shade as her eyes, taking one hand to hold up his chin so that he would look her in the eye, and taking the other hand and began caressing his cheek, gliding her hand up and down, down his collar bone and up his hair. He sighed at the touch.

"Kather-"

"Shh" she stopped him, "look at me, just look at my eyes" Hiccup looked up, her eyes. They changed. They seemed to now have a soft glow to their usual blue shade, they were _mesmerizing_, Hiccup began to notice that he couldn't look away, he didn't want to, just allowing himself to becoming drowned in the bright pools of blue bliss that they were.

"It's alright. . . . . just _forget_ about everything else. Just let yourself _go_".

He was hanging on her every word, everything else seemed to slip away, the cove, the forest, all gone, all there was, was Katherine, her peaceful scent of lavender and her entrancing eyes.

"Just give in my dear ".

Her voice made everything light, his head felt fuzzy. He enjoyed it, all independent thoughts began to leave him, he liked it, he like not having to think or worry, he didn't want to, he wanted her to have the control.

She _had_ all the control.

"Your getting sleepier aren't you ?" she spoke softly, using her other hand, she nodded his head slightly as he murmured in agreement at whatever she said.

Hiccup began to feel drowsy, every time he blinked, it was becoming harder and harder to keep his eyes open, but he pushed himself too, she told him to look in her eyes, he would obey, he wanted to obey, he belonged to her.

"There, there, my dear, just keep your eyes open a little longer, it won't be long now" she whispered. "you want to keep looking right ?", again she made his head nod in her agreement. Katherine tickled his cheek with her fingers, up to his hair, softly stroking individual locks of it.

She looked at his eyes, they looked dull and faded, his whole face had formed a dazed grin, he was unaware of what was happening, all he knew was to follow what ever she asked of him.

Katherine's grin grew, it was working, he was her's.

Katherine looked at the hazed boy, "you will close your eyes for me now my dear". He obeyed allowing his green eyes to flutter shut, she went to his ear, and whispered.

"Listen to my voice, there is _only_ my voice", the hypnotized Hiccup smiled more, happy to hear his mistress's wonderful words. She started to hum to him, while she stroked his auburn hair.

"_Why do you smile like you've been told a secret, now your telling lies cause you've been told to keep it",_

This song, soft and soothing as the last one, but not sad like the other. No, not sad, something else.

Mystifying.

_But no one keeps a secret, no one keeps a secret_".

Hiccup's head began to nod his head into her song, her fingers now tugging slightly harder at his hair.

"_Why when we do our darkest deeds do we tell, they burn in our brains, become a living hell , but everybody tells, everybody tells_"

"HICCUP !"

Katherine turned her head to find Astrid running towards them, needing to act fast, Katherine closed her eyes in concentration and her whole palm of her hand started to glow bright blue, she quickly pushed her glowing hand on Hiccup's forehead, and materialized away, making a unconscious Hiccup's head fall into the water spring.

Astrid ran to Hiccup's side and tugged his head out of the water, his eyes were closed, his body so pale you could see his veins, and he wasn't moving. She was in a frantic.

"HICCUP, HICCUP WAKE UP, WAKE UP" she cried.

She pumped her hands on his chest, making small portions of water come out through his mouth, then quickly placing her head on his chest, she listened.

In those few moments, everything was silent, Astrid closed her eyes, begging, hoping, and praying to every single god an goddess she could name at the top of her head in her mind, just for any sound of a heart beat.

After a few minutes, a faint, soft, bumping sound found Astrid's ear drums.

The blonde gasped, taking her head from his chest and wrapping her arms across the thin figure, tears of joy escaping her eyes.

Once she relieved herself of her out-bursts of emotions, Astrid placed Hiccup's head on her lap and cradled it. Stroking his cheek, she just now realized how cold his skin was, he felt like he just left the glaciers, he was that cold !

Placing him softly on the grass, Astrid cupped her hands around her mouth and did a nadder call. In just a few moments, the sound of Stormfly's bird-like wings filled the cove and the reptile landed by her owner. Astrid pointed to Hiccup to Stormfly's tail, to her back, the dragon understood the hand-signals her rider taught her, and used her tail, (at the moment had not engaged the spines) and curled it around Hiccup like a snake.

"Stormfly, gently !" Astrid warned, the nadder nodded, carfully putting him on her back. Stormfly then bowed her head to Astrid herself to board her.

"Come on Stormfly, we need to find the chief".

* * *

><p>The rest of the gang were flying towards the arena for their daily dragon training, "hey uh because Hiccup exploded at breakfast, does that mean we get the day off ?" Tuffnut asked riding Belch.<p>

"Hey !" Snotlout interjected, "since when does Hiccup get to decide what we do ?"

"Well, he's the founder of the dragon training academy" Fishlegs commented, "first viking to every ride a dragon, the chief's son. . . . . Fishlegs droned on.

"I get, I get it, okay" Snotlout scoffed, "sure he's _that_, but did_ he_ train a Monstrous Nightmare" Snotlout bragged, hitting the top of Hookfang's head, making the reptile, make his head ablaze on his 'owner'.

"AHHH, HOT HOT HOT", Snotlout screeched landing at the arena and quickly placing himself in a nearby bin of water to put the fire out.

"No, but it doesn't look like _you_ did either" Fishlegs announced.

"Oh shut up Fish brains".

"HELP, I NEED HELP".

The gang all turned their heads up at the sky to the sound of pleas, it was Astrid riding Stormfly and heading towards the village.

"Should we go help ?" Ruffnut asked.

"I don't know, remember what happened this morning, dude, that was cold" Tuffnut added.

"I'm not sure guys, I think we better check it out" Fishlegs objected, boarding back on Meatlug, "c'mon, we better hurry".

"Hey WAIT, since when do _you_ tell us what to do" Snotlout defended, but he was easily ignored as the twins ran to their zippleback.

"Well FINE' I'm coming too. . . .but not because of what_ you_ said, because_ I_ want to" he smirked, getting on Hookfang and following the gang towards the village.

Once they reached the village, Stormfly had already landed and vikings were circling her, Stoick could be seen quickly pushing away anyone in his path with Gobber trailing behind him to see what the commotion was about. But once the chief reached the center of the circled group of vikings his eyes widened and he gasped, surprised and worried.

"HICCUP" he yelled, taking his son off the dragon, he was pale white of skin and cold to the touch, his son didn't finch or make a sound to his father suddenly taking him off the reptile's back and into his arms. Stoick looked worried and afraid for his son, but the chief's green eyes soon darted to the blonde owner of the nadder.

"What. Happened." Stoick demanded through gritted teeth.

"He's okay, his heart beat's faint but it's there. . ."she started

"I said WHAT. HAPPENED."

Astrid froze, what was she to say, some freaky ghost girl did it ? Oh yeah, that'd end well, she'd be strapped to the end of a boat and be sent off to the edge of the world for going mad, but at the moment, the chief looked ready to kill her anyway, and she couldn't blame him. First she insults his son, then less than an hour later, comes screaming at the top of her lungs with his son looking like the dead.

"I. . . I. . . um. . _found_ him this way, his head was in the spring in the cove, I was able to get the water out of his system, and I heard a heart beat, I came back here to get you that _very _minute".

Stoick eyed her suspiciously, "chief, I _swear_, I had _nothing_ to do with this, you know I'd never intentionally hurt Hiccup" she pleaded, her blue eyes begging for mercy.

The chief nodded, he was mad, but he knew she was telling the truth about not wanting to hurt him, besides his main focus was on his, (practically lifeless) son. Gothi quickly approached the small group in the center with a large pouch of herbs in one hand, and staff in the other, any villager quickly stepped out of her way so she could work.

The elder put her hand onto Hiccup's forehead, but quickly drawed back, clearly surprised by how cold his skin was and began a quick observation on his pale body, her eyes widened and looked Astrid's way suspiciously.

The old woman took her staff and started scribbling in the dirt, everyone taking a few steps back to give her space to write, except for Gobber, so he could read it.

"She says he must have fell into the water and that the lack of oxygen caused him to loose consciousness" Gobber translated, Gothi took out a small bag out of the pouch and scribbled again.

"These herbs must be brewed into a tea and half a mug of it given to him every hour for four hours", she kept scribbling, "he'll be fine, and should wake up in three days at latest, until then, everyone is to go off their daily lives".

"Alright, you heard her, continue with your daily chores" Gobber announced.

Not wanting to offend the great, and mysterious healer, the other villagers reluctantly backed away to continue what they were doing before Astrid's cries. Astrid herself, knowing her mother wanted her to help with the laundry today, took one last look at Hiccup and began to take her leave, until she felt a meaty arm pull at her.

"One more thing" Gobber said, looking down at Gothi's scribbles, "Gothi wants to speak with you when you get a chance later today", Astrid, turned her head confused at the healer, who nodded solemnly right before and taking her leave.

**(Hmm, does Gothi know something about Katherine ? Now originally, there was going to be A LOT more in this chapter, but I try to keep them at less than 3,000 words each, but luckily for you people, next one should be out Tuesday or sooner, and that blue glow Katherine has WILL BE EXPLAINED, with that said Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	6. Chapter 6: Do You Love Her

**(I said this would be out yesterday, but yesterday, news began to spread of someone very wonderful died, Robin Williams, I didn't know him personally, but growing up, a large quantity of my movies featured the actor, his work was a part of my child-hood. May you make the angles above laugh at your comedic antics Robin Williams R.I.P)**

**(With that said, hope you enjoy)**

Hiccup suddenly found himself in a pleasantly familiar setting, the dark night sky with a full moon glowing brightly, giving silvery beams of light to the dark green forest floor, the trees, all their limps curled into swirl like shapes, the wild flowers all had a blue glow to them, bending down, he could feel soft grass between his fingers, the essence of pine in the air.

At least there _was_, until it was blanketed by the lovely incense of lavender the scrawny viking had become so fond of. Hiccup closed his eyes in the sheer bliss of Katherine's presence coming closer. From behind him, she appeared, taking his hands in hers, how he loved the cool and refreshing feel of her hands, but she quickly released her hands from his, and instead began allowing them to trail up his arms rubbing them slightly until reaching to his shoulders. Cupping her hands to them, she began to rub his shoulders carefully and softly, relieving him of any stress left in his body.

Hiccup moaned at the touch as she massaged, this was just what he needed, some nice relief from. . . . from ?

Hiccup just realized, he had completely forgotten what he was upset about. . . .something about that _blonde _girl . . . . what was her name. . . . annie? aria ?

But as Katherine had her arms trail towards his neck, relieving a knot that seemed to have been made, no doubt product of late nights bowing his head down at a desk covered in sketches and notes, suddenly that other girl didn't really seem that important, what was important was Katherine.

Right ?

Who had been there for him ?

Katherine.

Who was the understanding light in the dark void of hate ?

Katherine.

Who did nothing but care, admire and pamper him ?

_Katherine._

Yes Katherine, now with his clear answer, Hiccup just allowed himself to get lost in the pleasure she provided. The dark haired beauty pushed him gently down to the grass, he quickly obliged, allowing himself to sit down on the soft patch of green as Katherine worked her charms. Leaning towards his ear she whispered.

"Is that any better my dear ?" she asked sweetly, though she already knew the answer.

Hiccup moaned again and mumbled a low "yes" for her.

Her smile grew, this was it, this was her chance, it was the perfect timing, Katherine released her hands from his skin and glided herself to be in front of him, she put three fingers under the boy's chin, lifting it up, Katherine smile brightened more once seeing how hazed and submissive he still was to her. Katherine couldn't help but chuckle to herself at her accomplishment. At how in such a short time she had taken this free-spirited boy with a huge crush on shield-maiden and turned him into her obedient little love who probably couldn't even remember blondie's name.

And this was going to be the icing on the cake.

"Good, this makes the moment all the more special"

Katherine leaned in closer, allowing Hiccup to once again become lost in her blue orbs.

Coming closer and closer.

Only centimeters away now, her smile grew wider.

Though only seconds, for both it felt like hours until finally Katherine closed the space between them, taking his lips to her's. Hiccup's eyes shooted out, no longer dim and unaware, but now shocked and alert at what was happening.

In just a few moments, Katherine let go, Hiccup felt frozen in place.

Putting one finger to his lips, he became confused. The kiss felt cold and dead, no love or passion filled it, this concerned Hiccup.

Looking at Katherine she should be the perfect person, but the more he thought about it, there wasn't much he even knew about her, or even talked to her before, about likes, dislikes, options and that kiss. . .that kiss. It was hollow and empty, nothing about it felt. . . . ._real_.

To Hiccup, a kiss should be warm and caring, filled with _love_, that's what a kiss is for, a way of expressing your love for someone, your admiration for that person, somebody who you accept and accepts you for both good's and bad's, a kiss with someone. . . . someone. . . . . someone like. . . . .like _Astrid_.

With his senses now returning to him, the teen suddenly felt like a complete idiot, how could he forget _Astrid's_ name, of all people ?

Hiccup shook his head trying to clear all the cloudiness from it, how'd it get that way anyway ? In fact the more he thought about it how'd he even get here. He didn't recall ever going to sleep, actually the more he tried to remember, the more foggy and blurry his memory was.

Katherine looked at Hiccup, his eyes no longer hazy, but once again their original, bright green, filled curiousness and wonder, now deep in thought about his situation. She bit her lower lip in nervousness, "Hiccup, Hiccup ?" she asked, shaking his shoulders. The scrawny viking boy faced her, now realizing he hadn't spoke in several minutes now.

"Katherine how. . . . .how did I get here anyway ?"

The said girl blinked, that was a legit question, that meant he was waking up!

Katherine, now with worry and fear, instead plastered a sweet, innocent smile over it. "oh you just fell asleep" she answered nonchalantly, waving her hand in indifference. But Hiccup now, was not easily led astray.

"When ?. . . all I can remember was leaving the hall after breakfast. . . . oh my dad is probably worried about me".

Hiccup was about to get up back on his feet, just as Katherine quickly pushed him back down.

"Now, now, no need to worry, just_ relax_" she breathed, trying to put him back in her trance, "nothing is wrong".

The smell of lavender became stronger but at this point, the once blissful scent has become too strong and forcible for Hiccup's liking, making him turn his head away from Katherine to clear his senses. He sat up again, and quickly pushed her hands away from his.

"Katherine I'm sorry but I have to go" he urged, "I've been gone too long, besides I need to talk to Astrid".

"Astrid ?" Katherine shrieked, "why do you need to talk to _her_" she hissed on the last word.

"I feel like. . . .like I owe her a apology" Hiccup stuttered, though he really didn't remember what their fight was about, something told him that he needed to go back and sort it out, that maybe Astrid had something she needed to say as well, but he just couldn't let it go and started walking off.

"WAIT Hiccup !"

Katherine ran in front of him, blocking his way, she _had_ to keep him there with _her_ "what's there to apologize for ?" Katherine started to stutter, "you don't need her, why bother with her, you have me. . . you. . . you have _me_. she. . . .she doesn't even _deserve_ you. . . . you have ME. . YOU HAVE

"KATHERINE" Hiccup yelled, placing his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down, the girl had started chocking sobs, losing control, he could see desperation taking to her. In fact it was, she needed him to stay, why would he want Astrid, she was ten times better than Astrid, he didn't need Astrid, he had **_her_**.

Katherine suddenly realized how out of control and desperate she had turned, but it quickly faded to envy, her eyes now becoming darker with anger as she clenched her fists, she looked up at Hiccup, "do you love her ?" she asked bluntly.

Hiccup gulped, taking his hands off her shoulders, "what ?" he asked, shocked at the question.

"I said Do. You. LOVE. Her." she asked twice, emphasizing her words with much more hostility in her tone.

"Katherine I. . . . "

"ANSWER THE QUESTION".

Hiccup took a step back, surprised at how her soft sweetness turned so aggressive and hate filling. But what she asked him. . .well. . . it was a. . ._confusing_ question, one that he much rather not try and answer.

"I _care_ about her" Hiccup stated, not sure what else he could have said. Was he denying his feelings ? He wasn't sure, just thinking about made his head hurt.

Katherine nodded, "in a way you never will for me" she announced flatly.

"Now Katherine please listen. . . ." but the spirit put her hand up for silence, and she smiled, "it's okay Hiccup, I'm not angry".

"You. . . your _not_ ?" Hiccup asked, pleasantly surprised.

"No of course not, besides. . . . " her grin widened, "_it's not like you can leave_".

The viking teen's eyes widened, he turned his head, looking around his surroundings, his once gentle solitude, started to look much wicked and vicious to him, now realizing he didn't exactly know how to get out of here.

"Katherine, let me go" he demanded.

The enchantress laughed, the sound that was once light and delicate, felt dark and twisted in Hiccup's ear drums, mocking him crudely.

"I'm afraid I can't do that" she answered cheerily, "you can try if you want though" her hand started glow once again a bright blue, "good luck", and with that she snapped her glowing fingers, and like that, was gone. Leaving Hiccup a prisoner of his own mind.

**(Sorry if it seemed short, but like I said, there will be another one later today, so now that the trance is broken, what will Katherine do next ? Only one way to find out, read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	7. Chapter 7: Gothi

**(What else is there to say but, ENJOY, AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW)**

Katherine snapped her fingers and left Hiccup's subconscious , now traveling towards the Hofferson house, jealousy running through her veins. . . . . .well if she still had veins of course. But it didn't matter, she would not lose again to a perfect, precious, blonde tramp.

This time, she would win.

This time, she would get what she deserved.

This time, justice would be shown,

"What's so great about 'little miss living' anyway" she muttered, though knowing no one could hear her, at the moment no one could see her either, as she allowed herself to sit on the roof shingles of the Hofferson house, waiting for the said blonde floozy to go out that door, she knew she would. Katherine had to give her credit, Astrid was persistent, she wouldn't stay away from Hiccup for long.

The sound of growling alerted Katherine as she quickly turned around to find a blue and yellow nadder peering at her with pitch black eyes. She smiled, Katherine knew behind the reptile's growling, the beast was intimidated by her. The ghost clenched out her own teeth and growled right back at Stormfly, making her whimper back into her stable. Katherine smirked at the aura of dominance and power she had over the beasts, they feared her, and she loved it.

As on cue the wooden door creaked open, revealing Astrid walking out of the house, closing the door behind her, unknowing of the dark spirit lurking down on her with a cold vista. Katherine smiled, she recognized the trail Astrid was taking, as predicted she was rushing towards the Haddock house-hold.

Following her, but making sure to keep a distance, knowing being too close would send shivers down the mortal's spine and make her heedful of the spirit's presence, and soon enough, the chief's home came in sight, as Astrid went in, Katherine floated up to Hiccup's window and passed through. Hiccup was still unconscious and Astrid's footsteps could be heard going up the stairs, Katherine put herself in the corner of the room and waited for the show to start.

* * *

><p>Astrid could hardly think straight on what she was doing, her mind was on Hiccup and, (she clenched her teeth), <em>her<em>. The little witch that tried to kill her, and _him_ ! If Astrid could, she _would_ have strangled her for what she did. "_No, stay focused, stay focused"_ she thought, if she ever was going to get out of this house she needed to finish the laundry.

_"Stay focused, stay focused"_ she repeated in her head.

"Oh for goodness sake girl, would you just go !" Astrid turned around to the sound of her mother, hands on her hip, walking towards her, "before you start ripping the clothes as well".

The teen viking looked down to see the blanket in her hands crumpled, wrinkled, and mushed into a tight ball of fabric, quickly releasing the victim from her firm grasp and putting her hands behind her back. "Sorry. . . I just have a lot on my mind and. . . . .

"That Haddock boy" her mother confirmed, rising an eyebrow.

"Yeah" her daughter answered quietly, already feeling the heat rising to her cheeks, creating a red tone for them.

The woman sighed, taking a few stray hairs on her daughter's head, and tucking them behind her ear lovingly, "you better go then".

Astrid's eyes widened. "really !"

"Well you're clearly not going to be any use to me here so you might as well" she answered bluntly, seeing Astrid's smile widen, "now go before I change my mind".

Astrid opened the door and walked out, then began her sprint towards the chief's house. Being one of the fastest runners in her age-group, it didn't take long for her to arrive. Knocking on the door, and soon opened to the large and stout viking known as Stoick the Vast. The chief smiled at her, "I was wondering how long it'd take you".

Astrid gave a small smile and entered the house, "any change" she asked though she already knew the answer.

"None so far, but you're more than welcomed to visit, he's upstairs".

Astrid nodded, running up the stairs to her comatose friend.

* * *

><p>Entering the room, there laid Hiccup, still unconscious, breathing softly on the bed. Astrid approached him, his skin tone had started to return to color, he still looked pale and weak, but not as bad as he did when she rescued him. Toothless was asleep on his burned stone bed, Astrid gave a small smile at the reptile, probably exhausted from worry over his rider, the bond between the two would amaze her, she wasn't sure if even she and Stormfly had such a friendship.<p>

Astrid bended her knees down by Hiccup's bedside. Placing her hand on his fore-head and soothing his overgrown hair out of his eyes, taking a few strands and stroking them, feeling the soft bits of hair on her finger tips. He mumbled incoherent words in his sleep due to her touch. Astrid quickly backed away, hoping that he had awoken, but after a few minutes of no other reflex, sound, or movement, Astrid placed herself right beside him again.

She observed how weak he looked, how small and helpless he seemed, how could someone as innocent and gentle as Hiccup have something as horribly cruel and terrible happen to him. Guilt started to fill Astrid's heart, this ghost girl wanted to kill her, and now, she somehow roped Hiccup into her problem, now look at him.

"I'm sorry" she whispered, that was all she could say, "I'm sorry".

Her heart felt like it was beating a hundred times a second, a mix of emotions stirring in her, pounding at her brain, so much she didn't know how she was supposed to feel. Confusion, fear, sadness, anger, guilt. . . . ._love_.

Grabbing his hand, she already felt the tears about to escape her eyes, she just needed to let it out, she just needed to finally break, if Hiccup was awake he would let her, he wouldn't judge her for crying, he would try and comfort her anyway he knew how, this just making her chest hurt more and more tears to escape.

"I'm sorry" she choked, "I am so sorry Hiccup" trying to hold back was futile, the water already dripping down her cheek as she tried to remain calm enough to form words.

"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be in this mess, I just hope when you wake up, you can find someway to possible forgive me".

It stayed like that for a while, though it was probably a few minutes, every second felt like an hour to Astrid, placing her head on Hiccup's chest as she just allowed the tears to fall, until her regret filled lament was suddenly broken by the feeling of a large snout nudging her elbow.

The blonde turned around to find Toothless looking at her with big green eyes of concern for her. She looked up at him, her eyes red and wet from crying. Seeing this, Toothless pulled at the corner of an extra blanket placed on Hiccup, and dropped it on her arm. She smiled at him, taking the fabric to wipe the last bit of liquid from her eyes and scratched his chin softly.

Once she calmed down, she looked again at Hiccup, he looked so peaceful, he was so kind, gentle and considerate. Astrid placed her hand on his chilled cheek, leaning her head down to him, catching the scent of pine mixed with charcoal from time in the forge and flying with Toothless in the woods.

For one of the few times in her life, Astrid felt nervous on what she was about to do, she felt scared, usually everything came easy to her. . . . .but _this_.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and leaned ever so carefully closer towards his head, her stray strands of hair falling softly on his face, with only inches away, with every breath Hiccup took made the time feel endless, she finally closed the gap, pressing her lips to his.

It felt soft, the chill on Hiccup's lips melted away into warmth by Astrid. Time felt as though it stopped, just leaving the two in bliss.

Suddenly Hiccup reacted to it, kissing her back, if felt so natural, like instinct , the kiss was soft and caring and full of love.

Astrid gave a small moan of delight at his reaction. Until her eyes popped open, _he reacted_ ! He was awake ! As much as she hated to, Astrid parted her head away and broke the kiss, to see if it was true.

Indeed it was, Hiccup's eyes slowly fluttered opened, allowing Astrid to see his bright emerald orbs. "Ast. . . . Astrid ?" he mumbled.

The said blonde nodded, taking his hand in hers, "yes, I'm right here" she reassured, "how do you feel" ?

"M'tired" he mumbled, Astrid nodded, he just now had gained consciousness.

But the sudden feel of a wet tongue and a black dragon hoping on his bed probably didn't help much as Toothless showed his happiness a little too well.

Hiccup chuckled weakly, "alright Toothless, I'm fine, I'm fine, you can get off now".

The dragon obliged, allowing Hiccup to turn left and right, observing his surrounding, he recognized it as his room. "How did I get here ?"

"We took you home after. . . . . . " Astrid just realized, she had no idea how she was going to explain this to him.

"Uh, Hiccup, what do you remember ?"

Hiccup was still drowsy and exhausted from before, he couldn't think straight. "I remember running into the woods, a blur, the feeling of water, and then it all went black".

Astrid nodded, "I found you in the water spring in the cove, Gothi says you lost consciousness due to lack of any air".

The still drowsy Hiccup nodded at this, making Astrid smile, "are you hungry, do you want anything to eat".

He shook his head, "no, just tired. . . . .is it okay if I go back to sleep".

Astrid chuckled, "as long as you promise to wake up this time".

The viking boy gave a weak laugh and laid back down on his bed, allowing his eyes to close again. For the next few minutes, both Astrid and Toothless watched him sleep. His breathing had become more even, most of his color had already returned to him, and when Astrid gently replaced a few hairs that still wanted to stay in his eyes, she felt his skin had became a more normal feeling temperature.

"I just wish I knew how this happened, _why_ this happened to you" Astrid whispered, saying this suddenly made her think back to what Gobber said.

_"Gothi want's to speak with you when you get a chance later today"_

"Gothi of course !" Astrid announced, "if anyone can help me, she can". Toothless nodded in approval, though he had no idea what he was approving, it must be something good right ?

Astrid turned to Toothless. "Toothless I know you need to watch Hiccup, but I think I can find out who's behind this, and I might need your help ".

Toothless snorted, as if to say, _"of course, what kind of dragon do you think I am, let's burn the witch"_.

Astrid nodded a "good" and made her way to the door, "let's go, _**I** **have answers to find**_".

* * *

><p>Astrid walked down the stairs with Toothless, no sign of Stoick, who must of had to return to his chiefly duties, she and Toothless exited the Haddock house and made their way to Gothi's, the elder's house was built on the top of a high sea stack, the only way to reach her was either by boat and climb the 35 feet latter that reached her, or by dragon, which was much easier.<p>

Once Toothless landed, Astrid made her way to the door, and knocked on the wood, she waited there for several minutes, and was just about to go until she heard the door creak carefully. Gothi had opened the door only a crack, turning her head left and right, facing Astrid, she waved her hand at her to come in quickly.

Once both Astrid and Toothless were in, she shut the door, locked it, looking around, Astrid noticed that her windows were boarded up as well, the only light was from a large candle burning in the corner of the room. Gothi turned to look at her, in a low, raspy voice she whispered, "were you followed"?

Astrid almost fell over in shock, if Toothless hadn't caught her, "you. . . . you talked !"

Gothi nodded and asked again, "were you followed, did you see her, did you feel a chill or presence ?" she urged, and Astrid saw something she never thought she would ever see in the healer. . . . . . _fear_.

"No. . . .at least I don't _think_ so"

Gothi nodded and started walking towards and old chest by the boarded up window, "I haven't slept well in days, ever since your birthday, I knew something was wrong".

"What, how would you know" Astrid asked.

But the woman continued going through the chest, "of course I've had my guard up for a long while now, but now that it's actually happened, and I know she's not stepping down. . . . "

"Who. . . who's_ she_ Gothi ?" Astrid was completely confused.

The elder looked up from her rummaging to face Astrid, "near death experiences, little sleep, chills, strange happenings ?" she listed.

Astrid nodded, "ye. . .yes"

"And all centered around, _this girl_" Gothi took out a scroll, unrolling it as small piece of parchment, but not just parchment, it was a portrait. A portrait of a young girl with dark hair and icy blue eyes, wearing a long gray dress, a gold locket and a smile that tingled at Astrid's spine.

"Yes !" Astrid said aghast, "but. . . . but why do you have this, do you know who she is ?"

Gothi sighed, "I have stayed silent for so long, but this is something you need to know", Gothi pulled out two chairs, she sat in one and gestured Astrid to the other.

"It's time I tell my tale, this girl right here" she said, pointing to the picture Astrid still had in her hands, "is my _sister_ Katherine".

**(Well that's twist, hmmm, I wonder what happened between those two, and what Astrid has to do with it and why Katherine talked about "lose again". . . . oh wait, no I'm not, because I already know what's happening, but _you_ don't, hope you don't think this chapter was weak, with that said, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	8. Chapter 8: Tale As Old As Time

**(Hello people, it's been a while, and that's because, my family decided to take me on a surprise, week vacation, so I haven't had much time for updates, in fact I've been up since 1:00 this morning to finish this, so I apologize if it may seem wonky at times, with that said, hope you enjoy, next one should be up by the end of the week)**

Katherine didn't stay long, after Astrid had kissed Hiccup, she couldn't take it, she left the pair and materialized to the forest, it was her favorite place to be when she was alive and it still was now. A place to think, a place to grieve, a place to be alone. Katherine sighed, she really was taking a liking to Hiccup, he was so kind, so sweet, so charming.

So like Hamish.

Slumped down on a tree stump "maybe he does belong with her "little miss living"" she mocked, "with her rosy cheeks" Katherine looked down, "and beating heart".

The lonely soul started to hum a soft tune to herself, stroking her own wispy hair, it was cold. Looking back at her own hand, seeing how transparent and lucent it looked. Katherine turned her attention to a small pebble resting on the forest floor, concentrating, she placed her hand on the stone, picking it up in her palm. But once she opened and relax her hand, the stone went right through her skin, falling back onto the ground. Katherine turned her face away, sad and ashamed.

This is what she was, cold, bitter, spiteful and heartless, incapable of feeling anything, that was what they thought of her. That was all she was to them.

A monster.

Unseen tears were ready to escape her eyes as she repeated the word through in her head. A _monster_, she thought in her mind, _a monster._

_A monster ?_

In new realization, her sad frown suddenly molded into a scowl, her weak and pitiful eyes, eclipsed themselves with hate and vengeance and her hands tightened into fists.

"Their blind", she spat. "They don't know of the wretchedness I went through, what happened to me" her scowl shifted into a baneful smile as the wheels in Katherine's vengeful head began turning , "but that won't matter for long", it was clear things would never be the same as Katherine's plan began to mold itself.

* * *

><p>"You. . . . .your sister ?" Astrid screeched, still trying to wrap her head around what she had just been told.<p>

Gothi nodded, "older sister, but only by a year" she looked down at the picture, "she's quite beautiful isn't she ?"

"Very" Astrid mumbled, and though she hated to admit it, past the chill in her eyes, Katherine was quite a rose, milky skin, delicate features. Though that still didn't excuse the problems she started.

Gothi nodded, "I don't know exactly _why_ she's after you, but I'm definitely sure _how_".

Astrid shook her head, "I don't understand, "

Gothi sighed, "you may not believe this, but Katherine was once a very warm and kind person".

The viking teen couldn't help but chuckle, "really ?" she said in disbelief, "her ?" Gothi looked up at Astrid, and she quickly stopped, remembering who she was talking to.

Her _*gulp*_ sister.

Astrid cleared her throat, "sorry, _*hmpth*_ what happened to her ?"

"Well at first" Gothi did a small chuckle, "you could say she lived a girl's dream come true. Gothi looked lovingly at the portrait, she had beauty, grace, she could have almost any man she wanted, and on her 15th birthday she. . . ."

Gothi cleared her throat, "well she. . .you must understand, times were a bit different back then" the elder began to shift uncomfortably "a girl could be engaged at a very young age, today that's rare, but back then it was very common" she tried to explan.

Astrid nodded in understanding as the elder continued.

"On her 15th birthday, she was proposed to."

Astrid's eyes widened, "15 !, she was promised AT 15, that's MY AGE, who proposed to her ?"

"Well that solves why she's after Hiccup as well" Gothi said, putting the picture on the table "she was proposed to by Hamish the Second, heir to Berk at the time."

"Hamish the Second ?" Astrid questioned, "according to Fishlegs he was our richest leader".

Gothi smiled, "yes he was a smart lad, _cunning,_ knew how to be a great leader, he and Hiccup are very much alike."

"Well what happened to break the marriage ?"

* * *

><p><em>Flash Back<em>

Inside the Great Hall, people were celebrating, laughing, singing, dancing, drinking their fill in mead, it was Katherine's birthday, one of the most wanted of young women her age. Most were in a circle dance, where the men would twirl, spin, and dip their partner with only minutes before the circle would continue, passing a person to person in formation. The birthday girl could be seen outside the circle along with a few stray dancing pairs not part of the circle. Her hand cupped on the shoulder of Hamish the Second, his warm green eyes meeting her sparkling blue.

She and Hamish had been courting for several months now, bringing envy to their fellow teens, but really, who could blame them. The most wanted girl on the island, now with the heir to the tribe. Many other boys her age didn't know what she saw in him, Hamish was really more of a hiccup **(see what I did there)**, scrawny and small, but Katherine didn't mind, that wasn't what she was looking for. Hamish was clever, always thinking up new ideas, he was also faithful, never in a million years did she ever think he would astray from her.

It also helped that he happened to be a nimble dancer. Katherine laughed in joy as her partner twirled and dipped her down and pulled her back up, until her eye caught another young lady sitting by the corner, her younger sister, though one could hardly tell, they didn't look anything alike, except for the blue eyes.

Excusing herself from her partner, Katherine walked across the hall, disregarding any other young man that came her way to approach her sister, her red hair so light it looked blonde in the candle light of the Great Hall, ignoring the festivities and lounging on the side of the wall, observing the dancers around her.

"For one sister to do nothing but sit in indifference towards the other's birthday party, might give the public a wrong impression, don't you think" Katherine teased.

Her sister turned to her with a simple frown, that quickly melted into a fellow smile.

"Or are you afraid of upstaging me" Katherine said with a pretended look of hurt.

The red-head chuckled, "no one could upstage you".

Katherine smirked, "then why don't you join in the festivities".

"Not much of a dancer".

Katherine rolled her eyes, "come on" before she knew it, the red-head felt Katherine slide her arm in hers and grab her, dragging her towards the center, and practically shoving her into the circle, just in time for the change in partners, entrapping the girl inside the dance. She scowled at Katherine who simply laughed as her sister began to be twirled around the group.

The younger sister, tried her best to keep Katherine in view as she danced, but it was found to be extremely difficult, seeing as she was spinned and passed down every few minutes. That it until yet again, she felt someone grab her arm and pulled her out.

"Why must everyone drag me by the arm today" she huffed.

"Well excuse me, I thought you'd like a good view when the show started", the red-head looked up to see a familiar blonde grinning at her.

"Allison !, thank the gods."

Allison gave her hand a little wave of indifference, "no need, did you really think I'd let you miss this".

The two girl sprinted towards a nearby wall, and as if on cue, Katherine could be seen being lead by Hamish towards the center.

"May I have everyone's attention please" the boy called. The music stopped mid-play, causing the others to turn their attention to the young couple, nearby, the two girls grinned ear to ear at what was about to happen. Hamish took Katherine's hands into his own and kneeled down.

"My dear and beloved Katherine, I never thought a girl like you could ever see any worth in me, and never thought I could ever meet someone as kind and caring either, and now, I never want to lose that".

"Hamish I. . . . " Katherine started, blushing from his praise, but soon stopped and gave a small gasp as he pulled a small box out of his pocket.

Opening the box, showing a golden ring. "Will you marry me Katherine ?"

The girl was leaking tears of joy at his words. Katherine placed her hand at him, signifying she wanted him to put the ring on her, "what do you think" she whispered.

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>Astrid smiled, "that was such a beautiful proposal".<p>

Gothi nodded, "indeed it was, Allison was a dear family friend, and the moment she accepted, the two of us dashed over their and embraced the happy pair, the entire village was cheering"

"So what happened next ?"

The elder's eyes darkened, "that's when things started going downhill ".

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

That night, Katherine and her family all went to bed happily, thrilled to know that their own daughter would one day be wife of the chief. The two sister's had always shared a room, a bed on each side and a chest in front either bed with each individuals belongings and a window on the middle wall in the room. It was late at night when the younger sister was asleep but the sound of the window opened, and the feel of a late autumn breeze made her lift her head from her pillow and blink open her eyes, allowing them to gain back focus just in time for her to see a wisp of black hair leave the window sill.

* * *

><p><em>End Flashback<em>

"Where did she go ?" Astrid asked.

The healer shook her head, "I don't know, it was so dark out that, with Katherine's black hair, she could have went anywhere and I have no idea which direction she took".

"Did she ever tell you ?"

Gothi still replied, " no, but for the next few days, both she and Allison began acting strangely"

"Strangely ?, How ?"

"They were always close together, neither hardly talked to me" Gothi explained, clearly puzzled by the memory. "Allison seemed a little more skittish for a while, I did remember seeing them go into the woods once , but when I questioned them, they both denied anything and just left".

"That must have been terrible for you" Astrid commented, feeling pity towards the old maid, to be worried and concerned about the people you care about, only to have them ignore and push you away, must be a sad thing.

In fact, the more she thought about it, that sounded a lot like how Hiccup probably felt with **her** these past few days, guilt started to rise in Astrid's chest as Gothi continued.

"But that was nothing compared to what happened only a week later "

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

Katherine and her sister were inside their house folding clothes when a sudden knock came to the door, curious, the younger approached the door, unlocking it and taking the handle to open it.

But immediately regretted it. The moment it was open, the younger found herself forced onto the ground as a group of viking men swarmed the home, once she got to her feet, what she saw made her heart sink.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LET ME GO, LET ME GO !" Katherine could be seen struggling to free herself from their grip, but every time she freed a hand another grabbed it again, it was useless, she was outnumbered.

Her sister screamed, scared and in frantic, though she wanted to help, she found herself paralyzed with fear, frightened and in panic, the stress took over her, she felt weak, her legs wobbled, as her body met the floor, darkness covered her vision, and unconsciousness took her over.

She woke up back in her house, the laundry in disarray, the door still opened and her sister nowhere to be seen, running up the stairs, she looked up to check their room. While her side was neat and clean as it always was, Katherine's blankets were on the ground, her wooded chest was opened with it's lock broken, clear sign that someone had a hard time with it, and any content inside it now emptied.

Tears fell down the younger's eyes, she dashed down the stairs and flew right out of the house, blinded by fear and confusion, she didn't stop to see a viking walking passed her, until she collisioned with him. Picking herself off the ground, she stood in front of the man, praying for an answer.

"Where is my sister ?" she choked through her sobs.

The man looked up at her, realizing she didn't know what was going on and tried to calm her down, "dear you must understand it. . . .

"WHERE IS SHE" she cried, angry, sad and confused.

He sighed, and took her hand, "I'll show you".

He led her down to the prison of Berk, all the cells she could see were empty. Until he led her down towards the last cell, inside, tufts of black hair and icy blue eyes could be seen on the young woman held inside the almost completely empty prison building.

"Katherine !" she gasped, running towards the bar door.

"Sis" Katherine cried with joy, taking her sibling's hands into her own.

"I'll give you two some time alone, your boat will be leaving soon" the man announced, Katherine nodded and he walked away.

"Boat ?" the red-head asked, "what boat ? Why are you here ? What happened ?" she demanded.

Katherine sighed, "I'm being banished, their putting me on a boat and setting me for the edge of the world."

"WHAT ?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing, she shook her head, "no, no they can't do that, I can't lose you" she cried, tears already beginning to leave once again.

Katherine took her thumb and wiped her sister's tears away, "I'm afraid they can".

"What crime could you have possible have committed ?"

Katherine's eyes darkened, "I've been accused of witchcraft".

"Withcraft !" the girl screeched, taking a step back, "no" she shook her head, "no that can't be true, please tell me it's not true !"

"I only did a few spells, I've never cursed anyone, or hurt anything, it was just a hobby" Katherine quickly grabbed her sister's hands to prevent her from running away, "please. . . I didn't mean for this to happen" Katherine defended.

"Then why did you do it".

Katherine turned her head, not meeting her sister's gaze, "curiosity ?" her shoulders slumped, "stupidity. . . I thought _maybe_ if I practiced enough, I could use it for the good of the village. . .but now. . . ." her voice trailed off.

"I. . . . I guess this is good-bye"

Katherine nodded, "yeah. . . .but wait !" Katherine put her arms on her neck and unlatched the necklace around her throat.

"Here, take this, as a memory of me", she placed it in her sister's hand. It was a round, golden locket, Katherine had it for years, she never took it off, in fact it was probably only by luck that she still had it, her sister now understood why her sister's belongings were taken from her. Anything Katherine had owned would be burned or destroyed in case of being "cursed", or "hexed", this locket was too precious to risk.

The younger nodded, "I will".

Katherine gave a weak smile, "you better go, I'll be leaving soon".

"I wish their was something I could do".

The dark-headed nodded, "So do I".

* * *

><p><em>End Flashback<em>

"I didn't watch the boat leave, I couldn't take it" Gothi muttered, a tear threatening to come out from the depressing memory.

Astrid put a hand on hers, "are you alright, do you need something".

The healer shook her head, "no thank you dear, I'm alright".

Astrid nodded before speaking again. "Not that I'm complaining, but what does this have to do with me"?

Gothi stood up, walking back towards the chest and pulling out another piece of paper, "I think this might answer your question".

She unrolled the second scroll. to reveal yet again another portrait. Astrid's eyes popped open wide, a gasp escaped her lips and she suddenly felt extremely light headed.

The picture showed three girls happy together, the first was clearly Katherine, the second was of a girl, shorter, with light red hair and the same ice blue eyes, probably her sister, a younger Gothi, but it was the third that caught her attention.

Her eyes were also blue, but not as light, more of an azure blue than an light ice blue really, her light blonde hair was down by her shoulders in waves and her bangs were covering most of one of her eyes, she gave a small, light pink lipped smile, her face identical to Astrid's.

"Who. . . .who is that" Astrid said quietly, stuttering to form words.

Gothi pointed to the girl Astrid was referring too, "_that_ is Allison".

**(Sooooooooooo what do you think, now I didn't give away the entire back story because 1) What fun is that and 2) Katherine's main focus is Astrid, so naturally the main problem went down with Allison, but we can only get Gothi's perspective, with that said, read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	9. Chapter 9: The Locket Inside The Chest

**READ FIRST, READ FIRST, PLEASE, BEFORE YOU CONTINUE- Now in memory of 9/11, I ask everyone here to go to my profile, where a video link and a message has been posted in honor, this message and link will stay on my page until Wednesday of next week, please go to it.**

**(Welcome back, now I KNOW that I seem to be very wishy-washy with this fic, but if you go to my profile, you will see a full schedule of this week's updates that I INTEND to keep, with that said, chapter 9)**

Her heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a minute, trying to jump out through her throat, as Allison's eyes poured through her's, mocking her with an identical face. Astrid's breaths felt heavier and heavier, her pulse going to a faster and faster pace, her head felt like someone was pounding inside it with a hammer. She began to twitch and shake and-

"Astrid !"

Astrid snapped out of her state of panic at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder and the sound of the old woman.

Her limbs felt tense and her body felt cold, looking down, she saw that she was now clenching Allison's portrait, gripping it, wrinkling the sides of the parchment. "What happened" Astrid slurred, discovering it now difficult to form words.

Gothi's eyes dimmed down, "Katherine must be more powerful than I thought she would be. . . . .I believe she's hexed you ?"

"Hex ?. . . . What's a hex ?" Astrid said nervously of what exactly had happened to her.

The elder placed her hand on Astrid's forehead, "lay down" she commanded and Astrid obliged.

"A hex is using the mind's emotions against it, heightening them dramatically and weakening the body" she explained, "I didn't think she could have enough power to do such a feat", Gothi placed a bony finger near her eye, "close you're eyes".

"Why ?" Astrid asked warily, . . . .half guessing Gothi was going to start hexing her herself.

_"No this is Gothi she wouldn't hurt me"_ Astrid thought, "_but. . . . . you never know"_.

"To contact my sister" she explained, walking towards one of her many cabinets she pulled out a tube a merky yellow liquid, "you can call to her in sleep", she handed Astrid the tube, "drink !" .

Astrid's lips began to twitch in curved shapes, clear signs of disgust at the look of the formula now in her grasp, with a better view, she could see specks of brown mixed inside the ruddy, dark yellow color, her eyes darted back to Gothi, face in full expectancy she drink it. Astrid gulped, and gave a quick, half-scared nod.

Using her thumbnail, Astrid undid the cork on the top, she held her breath, not allowing herself to smell what she expected to be a foul stench, gulping the liquid down through the back of her throat, giving her only the small traces of a sour and bitter taste.

But almost immediately after the taste came to her throat, Astrid's head began to feel light and dizzy, the room began to spin and blur before her eyes, black specks started blinking into her vision. She groaned, putting her hand on her head, her limbs felt weak and wobbly, it was taking too much energy to even keep her head up now. Laying back down, Astrid's eyes grew heavy, and she allowed them to close. But as soon as she did so, her mind went blank.

* * *

><p>Soon enough, Astrid found herself once again in the Berk forest at night, <span><em>"does this girl have any original ideas"<em> she thought. But she did have to give credit. Everything felt so real ! The crunching sound of pine needles under her boots as she began walking, the echos of night creatures in the area, even a soft breeze could be felt through her skin, if she didn't know any better, Astrid would have truly believed she really was in the forest late at night.

But it also made Astrid began to question, just how far_ could_ Katherine go, just how much power _did_ she have ?

_"No__". _She thought, _"you can't show fear"._

Astrid took a deep breath and held it for several seconds, until finally releasing it and crying out the name of her new adversary "Katherine".

Only silence. . . . . . "Katherine ?" she called again, louder, yet still unsure, and only given soft wind as response.

Astrid clenched her teeth, after all this witch had put her through, she _refused_ to be ignored now. "KATHERINE" she demanded.

"Now, now, no need to shout".

To the sound of the voice behind her, Astrid quickly turned to find Katherine in all her glory, facing her, her lips curved into a sweet and humble smile, her eyes bright, a pure look of innocence, at first glance, you would never guess such a sweet looking girl would dare to even hurt a fly, but Astrid could see straight through it, she_ knew_ of the wretchedness inside.

Looking at her reaction, Katherine shaped her mouth in a pout, "awww, is something troubling you dear ?" she gave a small pity smile, "you want to talk about it ?"

With little to no patience left, Astrid tightened her fists, "I. Have. Had. ENOUGH with you" she shouted.

Katherine smiled at Astrid's actions, "oh" she said innocently, "is that so ?" Katherine touched her neck with four fingers, as though she was choking back a sob, "I'm hurt Astrid"

She smiled, "really _I am_"

Astrid, anger fueling her confidence, looked her in the eye, "alright, listen up, _this_ is how it's going to work, _I'm_ going to wake up, _you're_ going to fix the mess you've made and then your going to Leave. Us. _Alone_." she spoke in her coldest, chilling, authority demanding voice she could make, trying to intimidate the other.

But the ghost only gave a light chuckle, crossing her arms together and placing a sweet simper on her lips, "well, well, well, seems like we have already have everything figured out now don't we ?"

Astrid, at first shocked then angered at Katherine's taking on their confrontation, started to shake her head slowly with disgust and loathing, "you're a _monster_" she spat.

But the moment she said those words Katherine's face fell, her smile melted into a hate-filling sneer, "and you're _rude_".

Astrid glared, "you better leave us alone or-

"or WHAT ?" Katherine demanded, Astrid now taking a step back at the new sound of hostility. But was soon turned to a snicker, "you'll kill me ?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Astrid's eyes widened in surprise, in truth she didn't exactly know**_ how_**, she could threaten her, and now her bluff was called, it only frustrated her more as she glared daggers at the ebony haired spirit, clenching her fists.

Katherine giggled again, finding grand humor in Astrid's troubles and frustration, "oh how quaint, you're going to kill a ghost" she continued to laugh at the nonsense it was.

Though she was indeed angry, the way Katherine just calmly spoke and called her out, worried her, but Astrid quickly tried to shrug off any doubt and spoke, "you don't scare me".

Once again she stopped laughing and smiling, her tone turned much more serious as she leaned forward to the blonde.

"_Don't_ underestimate me Astrid, you have _no idea_ what I'm capable of".

Pulling back, Katherine gave one last chuckle, enjoying her position of intimidation and authority. Putting her index finger and thumb together ,she looked back up at Astrid, and snapped them, "you're move"

_*Snap*_

* * *

><p>Astrid's eyes snapped right open, she found herself back in Gothi's hut, her hair damp with sweat, but she wasn't worried about that, she wasn't worried about anything, all she could think of was the smoldering fury rising in her veins.<p>

Back there Katherine had the ability to look down on her, humiliate her and make her feel small, but the worst part was that. . . . she allowed it. She _allowed_ herself to be intimidated by her opponent.

But she wouldn't again.

"Well ?" Gothi asked.

Astrid shook her head, "she won't leave us voluntarily" she looked the healer straight in the eye, her tone becoming more vital and anxious, "I _need_ to know how to defeat her, do you have anything that could help me ?"

Gothi's lip tightened, turning her head left and right directions, as though she half-expected Katherine to be behind her before turning back to Astrid, "I may have one thing".

She placed a bony hand on her neck, pulling to reveal a thin leather cord around it, made in the same color as her vest in order to keep it hidden. Pulling it over her neck to show a small, simple copper key dangling on the end.

"After my sister's banishment I made her a memorial" her face fell, "I wanted to remember her as my _sister_, not a _criminal_, when it happened, I took anything of her's I could that the village hadn't already destroyed". She held the key up in front of Astrid, "in a chest, under that plaque, this key will unlock it, you might find something inside".

Astrid snatched the key from her, seeing it as her last hope to end this problem, "thank you".

"I placed the plaque by the edge of the forest by the cliff-side" Gothi looked to the door, "you must go now, before she comes back".

She nodded, Astrid and Toothless quickly exited the hut and flew out from the sea-stack and towards the cliff-side.

Down at the cliff-side Astrid unhitched from the reptile and stamped onto the land searching for the plaque. Toothless dropped his snout on the dirt, sniffing for any unnatural scents or feelings around him. It took several minutes of examining surrounding rock and gravel, looking for any writings scripted in it until- - -

"Hisssssssss" Toothless hissed and growled, Astrid turned her head to him, "hey Toothless ?" she asked, trying to place a hand on his snout but he quickly jerked his head away, "Toothless what is it ?" She began backing away from him, her hands in front of her, now wary of the dragon in aggravated condition, slowly walking back, until her foot felt something smooth under it, slipping the heel and tripping her to the ground.

Landing flat in the dirt, Toothless, sensing Astrid might be injured went to help pick her up, allowing her to lean on his snout, smoothing her skirt, careful to avoid the spikes, and scuffing down the dirt from the leather. Looking down, she could see his eyes turned back into kind pupils, showing that what ever he felt was now over. But once Astrid's blue eyes rested on what she slipped on, she bent back down, seeing traces of black writing on the gray stone, she began wiping off any dirt on it and dig her nails against the earth at the sides of the rock.

_Kath ri e_

_Loving Si er_

_Dau hter_

_A d Fr end _

Astrid rolled her eyes at the words, some faded and missing, but still legible enough to understand.

She pulled the stone out of the ground and continued digging, she felt the dirt go into her fingernails and even felt the tops of them breaking off, but she didn't care, soon enough, Astrid's fingers brushed against what no longer felt like loose dirt, but now something cool and hard, not unlike metal.

Her eyes widened, gripping the ends of the metal, she pulled the object out. Now in her view, and scuffing off the last of soil, seeing in more detail, she could see it was a small copper box, on the top was what looked like a peacock, jewels embedded it's body and large, multi-colored stones made up it's feathers, flower and vine designs were spread across the box's sides, and each flower had a semi-precious jewel in it's center as well it.

Astrid was impressed, the box (though small) had very impressive engravings and detail go into it and looked like it could bring a good sum of money, then again, Gothi had said Katherine was _very_ much admired and was courting the Chief heir. Finding the keyhole, Astrid placed the box down on the ground and pushed the key inside, having to twitch and turn it till a small _*click*_ could be heard.

She smiled greedily at her success, opening the lid. For a small chest, not much could be put inside it, scrumming though old letters, (nothing Astrid read of value) a dried, deep purple flower, a small silk pouch, (emptied of anything of use), and a light yellow ribbon, nothing in here seemed to be helpful for her situation. Astrid gave a low sigh of defeat, everything here could supply no harm to Katherine and no protection for herself. She was about to close the box until. . . . _something else_ caught her eye.

A faint glimmer, barely caught pass the corner of her eye, curious and some-what hopeful, the blonde rummage at the other items until her eyes became rested upon the source of the light, a small, golden locket.

Wrapping her fingers around the chain, she held it up to the light of day, it glittered with pure exquisiteness in the bright sun.

Astrid's eyes shimmered, she didn't know why. . . . but she began finding herself purely _fascinated_ with the piece of jewelry, bringing it back down, she developed the want to put it around her neck. Almost unconsciously unhooking the chain and leading her hands closer to her chest, the metal chilled at Astrid's neck once the charm touched the skin, her hands going to the back of her head and clasping the necklace back in place.

Astrid placed her hand to stroke the locket as- - - "_hello_"

In a matter of seconds, the teen had gotten back to her feet, spun around, facing the opposite side of the cliff with her ax off her belt and in her hand, "who's there ?" she asked, only to curse under her breath at the shakiness her tone formed.

"_Wait, you can hear me_ ?" the voice asked hopefully.

The blonde looked to her sides and peered closer at the edge of the forest, "yeah. . .but where are you ?"

Toothless raised an eye, clearly unconcerned about the voice Astrid was hearing, "Toothless don't you hear that ?" she asked, upset that Toothless looked in indifference to the sound of a unknown voice.

The reptile only shook his head, and took a few steps back from Astrid, slowly and carefully.

_"He can't hear me"_.

"Who are you, where are you ?" Astrid demanded, even more confused as before. The voice was silent for a few minutes until speaking again, _"I'm in the locket"._

But what came next is what really scared Astrid once the voice continued, "_and_ _my name. . . . . . is Allison_".

**(WHY IS ALLISON IN THE LOCKET ?, I don't know. . . . .well technically I do, but _you_ don't, By The Way, I'm thinking about putting possession in this fic, what do you think ? See you tomorrow, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	10. Chapter 10:Allison

**(So I know I said this would be out this weekend, but there were a few. . . .complications in my path these last few days and things in my life just kept getting in the way but I AM TRYING, with that said, On With The Show !)**

"Allison !, as in Katherine's friend", Astrid said aghast.

_"It looks like my reputation proceeds me"_

Astrid held the locket to her face, "how are you here ?, _Why _are you here, inside a locket ?"

The lcoket began to feel colder in Astrid's hands, the voice turned into a sad and depressed timbre. "_After I died, instead of my soul being lifted to Vallhala, Katherine trapped it inside her necklace_"

Astrid's eyes widened in relation, back in the woods. . . . what was Katherine wearing ? A long silk gray dress, no shoes, and a. . . . . .Astrid gulped, a _golden locket_ . She was _wearing_Katherine's locket !

In panic, she reached to the back of her neck for the hook of the chain, wanting nothing more than to rid herself of the vile pendant.

"_No don't please_ !" Allison begged, "_please don't lock me back in there_".

Her hand froze centimeters away from the chain, she thought back, how long had Allison been dead ? For years of course. . . .and to have to spend day after day of that time probably being tortured and hexed, trapped around a witch's throat until death took her as well. Only to be returned to misery by being locked up inside a copper box under the earth like a living corpse in it's grave.

Sensing Astrid had not cut contact and still wore the necklace, Allison spoke again, "_I sense you've been touched by dark magic, Katherine's magic, am I wrong ?_"

Astrid's thoughts ringed alarm, how could Allison_ sense_ something like that ? "No you're right, I came here to find a way to defeat her or protect myself, but there's nothing here" Astrid admitted in defeat.

The locket developed a warmer aura to it, a friendly semblance, "_maybe there is ?"_

"What do you mean ?"

"Well. . .i_f it's true that Katherine has lost her mortal body and is now a spirit she is not as powerful as she would be with a constitution, and even though I'm trapped, the presence of my soul should give you a form of protection_" she explained.

Astrid found a lifting sensation fill her at Allison's words and immediately bolted off from the cliff-side, running as fast as her legs could carry her, Toothless now following pursuit with her, Astrid's mind fully settled on one destination.

"_Where are we going ?_"

But Astrid didn't answer, she just kept running, dodging fallen tree limbs and running past circling bushes and trees. Once she reached the village, her heart began beating faster in anticipation. Few people looked back at her curiously but continued on their way a few moments later. Astrid didn't stop until she reached the Haddock house again.

Once she stopped, she had to take deep breaths, to try and gain back a steady amount of oxygen in her lungs, before banging on the door at a rapid hard speed, so loud she was sure someone had to hear her. It was several minutes of hard strikes at the wood, her fist going back and forth at the door until it was opened and she realized she was now only hitting at the air.

"I suppose yer here for eh second visit" A blonde viking man asked.

"Gobber ?, what are you doing here ?"

Gobber chuckled, "now you don't think Stoick would just leave his ailing son alone while he was busying running the village ?"

Astrid mentally kicked herself, like Stoick would leave his only son alone while he was in such a state of health. "May I come in ?"

The elder viking nodded and opened the door wider for her to enter, but when she made her way to the first step of the stair-case, Gobber put a hand on her shoulder. Astrid turned her face to meet his, "something wrong ?"

Gobber rubbed his neck, "well uh actually Astrid, I need to talk to you. . . .I need to ask. . . what _exactly_ happened with Hiccup".

"What do you mean ?"

"Those herbs Gothi gave Hiccup. . those weren't normal healing herbs. . .they were just simple tea leaves, nothing special. . . . .is there something you didn't tell us" Gobber asked suspiciously.

"Oh well I. . . ." Astrid's voice trailed off, not just that Gobber was catching on, but that if Gothi hadn't given Hiccup anything that meant she really _didn't_ have anything to help against Katherine, that meant her life, Hiccup's life, the future of Berk. . . . . . it all depended on her.

"Astrid ?"

"Huh, what ?" Astrid asked, being pulled out of her thoughts, "oh yes" she'd been silent for a few minutes, "yes. . .I MEAN NO. . .no I mean, no, I'm. . I'm fine, he's fine", she stuttered her words together.

_"Nice save"_ Allison said with a coating of sarcasm.

"Are you sure ?" Gobber asked questionable of Astrid's new behavior, she sounded less like Astrid and more like. . . well Hiccup !"

"Yeah. . .yeah I'm fine" she nodded nervously and began backing forward to the stairs, "so I'm just going to see him and _*oof*_ " she hit one of the wooden pillars, "yeah I'm just gonna. . .gonna go bye" she rushed and quickly started running up the stairs, leaving a very, _very_confused Gobber.

"That was close" Astrid breathed.

_"So who's that_ ?"

"Long story", Astrid approached Hiccup's bed with the boy still asleep, she gave a small smile, "you said you can protect someone from Katherine right ?"

_"Yeah, but why are we here ?_"

Astrid looked at the golden locket and took a deep breath, "he needs protection more than I do".

_"No WAIT DON'T_" Allison panicked.

"Don't ?, Look. At. _Him_, this is what Katherine's done to him. . . . .because of me". Astrid defended, her voice trailing down with guilt on the last three words.

_"Astrid listen to me, she won't hurt him_"

"Won't hurt him ! LOOK at him !"

The necklace started to burn even hotter, hot that it even began to sting her skin slightly. "_Ugh"_Allison groaned in annoyance, _"she's put magic on him, but it was charming not hexing"._

"It doesn't matter what kind of magic, the fact is that she's used magic on him, he needs this more than me and I'm going to help him" Astrid stated in utmost certainty.

She could almost image Allison scowling at her, _" well you can't help if your dead, and that seems to be Kat's top priority right now, believe me, he's safer than you, protecting yourself is the best way to help him"._

Astrid thought this over, before deciding to put her hand away from the locket, now cooling down, allowing it to continue dangling from her neck, she sighed, her eyes lurking down helplessly at her friend. "Then how _do_ I help him", her voice now barely a whisper.

_"If I remember correctly, Katherine told me about a potion that could protect someone from dark spirits, there might still be a vile of it in her old lair"._

"Her lair ?" Astrid questioned, but immediately mentally kicked herself for, of course she'd have a hiding place to practice magic in, "so where do I find this lair ?"

"_The hidden entrance is inside the Berk forest_" Allison instructed, "_I remember the directions and can lead you there_".

"Great, when do we start-

"Astrid ?" came a groan.

Hiccup's eyes opened slightly, still dazed, it was clear he was only half-awake and had just now woken up.

Astrid froze, she hoped Hiccup hadn't heard her talking to Allison, a person only _she_ could hear, he'd probably call her crazy. "Yeah Hiccup. . . .but I was just leaving anyway, sorry to bother you, you can go back to sleep" she made her way to the door.

"No wait !" he slurred, though still not entirely alert, it was clear he wanted her to stay.

She couldn't help but smile, his pleading green eyes, shining bright and clear instead of hazy and empty.

"_We need to go !_" Allison urged.

"Just a second" Astrid whispered.

"What did you say I couldn't hear you" Hiccup asked.

Astrid smiled, "just saying I could stay for a second or two" she said nonchalantly, though she could already feel the locket reheating itself in Allison's irritation, she pulled up a chair. "How you feeling ?"

"Still tired ?" he chuckled, "I guess you think I'm just being lazy".

Astrid chuckled at his teasing, how laid back he was about this, it made her almost forget that the cause of this was an angry ghost, it almost felt like he was just getting over a cold or something. But that what was so great about Hiccup, he didn't dwell on things like that, even after he lost his leg, HIS LEG, for goodness sakes, the first thing he did when he woke up from a COMA was go FLYING !

"Well I don't know. . . ." she teased, "I'll give. . . um _one_ more day but after that, you still in here, I'll just have to get Stormfly help me _drag_ you to the academy".

The two laughed at their banter, and Toothless gave a strange sound in the back of his throat that Astrid could only assume was the dragon equivalent of a laugh. After a few more chuckles though, Hiccup cleared his throat, signifying he needed to talk and Astrid listened. "Actually I almost forgot, I have something for you. . . for your birthday, it's on my desk, let me just get-

"No, you lay back down" Astrid said firmly, gently pushing him back down as he tried to pull himself up, though he was having a conversation with her, it was clear that talking was taking more than enough energy out of him, energy that he didn't have for getting out of bed.

"I'll get it",she answered, getting out of her chair and towards his desk, littered with sketches and drawings, and charcoal pencils, and on the corner, a small blue box tied with a yellow ribbon on top. Picking up the box, she showed it to him, "this it ?"

He nodded as Astrid sat herself back down, the box in her hands, "open it" Hiccup spoke softly.

Putting her hand on the ribbon, carefully untieing it, Astrid allowed the ribbon to drop down onto the floor and took off the lid.

Astrid gasped in surprise, "Hiccup I. . . . ." she was at lost for words, "thank you" she mouthed.

It was a silver charm bracelet, 14 charms in all and every other charm was the sparkly blue of a nadder scale. Of the 7 individual charms, one of a shiny, miniature ax, one of a harebell flower, one of a lyre, one of the sun, one of the moon, one charm had an actual gem embedded in it in the shape of a star, and the last was of her own family crest, a serpent with it's tail wrapped around a tree with it's branches in ablaze.

The effort put into the piece of jewelry was clear as day, the serpent looked so real that Astrid could almost feel it move around the burning tree, the lyre had actual miniature strings embedded in it, she wouldn't have been surprised if she strummed it, it would actually create a musical tune, even the ax had teeny tiny engravings on it identical to her own ax's designs, Hiccup must have taken a _lot_ of his time to complete this project.

Hiccup, at first warily of Astrid's speechlessness, but then delighted as a smile grew on her as she traced her finger along the charms, he allowed himself to chuckle, "I take it you like it ?"

"I love it" she breathed, "here" she put her wrist out, "help me put it on ?"

Hiccup obliged, putting the silver chain around her wrist and hooked it in place. Astrid raised her hand towards the open window, allowing sunlight to give a pleasant shine to the bracelet, she twisted her wrist, making the charms hit each other, creating a soft chime to echo in the room.

_"Uh I hate to break this extremely important visit"_ Allison said dryly, "_but. . . . evil ghost, magic potion, future of Berk in jeopardy, RING A BELL !"_

"Ahhh" Hiccup groaned suddenly, putting a hand to his head, this snapping Astrid's attention back to the reality and importance of the situation at hand, "you okay ?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah. . . " Hiccup moaned, "just a small headache, nothing too bad".

Astrid bit her bottom lip, "maybe. . . .maybe you should rest".

Hiccup's eyes widened, "n. . .no, I'm fine, really I am", Astrid sighed, she could tell he was still tired, he just didn't want to admit it.

"Hiccup you need to rest, I'll be back soon enough", but Hiccup still didn't look convinced, so Astrid had to try more to convince him, she took his hand into her own making Hiccup blush shyly, "I promise Hiccup, by tomorrow, everything's going to get straighten out".

Toothless poked his head up to Hiccup, signifying he wanted attention, Hiccup obliged, petting his snout comfortingly while Toothless purred with delight. Satisfied, Hiccup layed back down and close his eyes, allowing his exhaustion to overcome him once again.

_"Are you satisfied now, because we're kind of on a deadline here ?"_

Astrid nodded in agreement, "Toothless" she said, her voice so soft only Toothless's trained dragon ears could sense it, perking up and turning back to her, "come on, we have work to do".

Toothless went back up to her, allowing her to board onto his back and fly out the window.

Astrid turned her attention to the locket, "where to Allison ?"

* * *

><p>"This it ?"<p>

"_That's it_"

After what felt like hours of nothing but going around tree after tree, Toothless and Astrid finally were stopped by the spirit of the locket. It was a great oak tree, true it indeed was "great", the wood was at least 47 ft. tall and at least 4 ft. in width, but other than it's great size, nothing about it seemed to stand out that made Astrid see how either Katherine or Allison could have identified it as a passageway.

"You sure ?"

_"Look to the other side of it"_ Allison instructed.

Astrid raised an eye-brow but did as she told, putting her hand across the side of it's trunk. All it was was hard, gray, tree bark, until. . . . . the substance changed.

"_*gasp*_"

Astrid put her hand away from tree, the rough substance she felt had turned softer, _smoother_, looking at where her hand was, a thin trail was of what Astrid could only describe as a 'black moss'. Toothless sniffed the black substance but quickly hissed at it and turned away.

Looking more closely, she could see the trail of black moss going down to the other side of the tree, leading to a small black knot in the wood, the exact size of the locket.

"So I just need to put it in ?" Astrid asked, gripping the locket, as if to see if it was still there.

"_Exactly, you're catching on_"

Reluctantly Astrid unclasped the chain, allowing the necklace to slide down off her neck and fall into her palm. Almost instantly an empty and hollow feeling came to her brain, as if someone had made a large hole in the center of her head, a sign that her connection with Allison had been cut off.

Holding the locket itself up with two fingers, she placed the pendent in the small knot on the side of the tree, fitting perfectly.

The locket started to glow inside it's place inside the tree trunk, Astrid took a step back as-

_*Creeeeeeeeeeeeak*_

A hidden hatch in the base of the tree revealed itself for the blonde.

She walked closer to the hatch, looking down, a staircase came into her view. Toothless looked down it as well, and gave a low growl, sensing the dark magic inside it.

Astrid just now realized she was holding her breath and quickly released it. She leaned her head as far as she could without stepping any closer to the hatch, looking down at the stairs leading down into an chasm of dark shadows she couldn't see pass.

She gulped and took a second step towards the stair-case, Toothless wined in alarm, warning her that she shouldn't go down there. Astrid turned to Toothless, his pleading eyes aware of the danger that hid inside, "Toothless that hatch holds the only thing that can save Hiccup, we_need_ to go down there".

Toothless gave a small growlish wine, he would do anything for Hiccup, but he didn't feel right about this passageway either. Making up his mind, the night-fury grabbed a fallen tree limb with his mouth and dropped it at Astrid's feet.

Astrid gave a soft smile as Toothless made a small plasma blast at the end of the branch, enlightening it, Astrid grabbed the other end of the wood and stomped at a few blades of grass that Toothless caught fire as well. "Thank you Toothless".

Toothless went down the first few steps and waited for her to follow. Astrid closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, against every thought, every instinct, every feeling in her body to turn back from this. . . . .she released her breath and opened back her eyes. She jerked the locket out of it's socket in the tree and made her way down the steps.

As her footprints echoed down the stairway, she could hear the sound of the hatch closing back in place.

**(Love it, hate it, comment ! Next one should be out soon enough, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	11. Chapter 11: Astrid's Move

**(I. HATE. SEPTEMBER. You know why ? Because after they finish sugar-coating you you're first month of a new school year, the second month is when they give you EVERYTHING THEY CAN ! Long story short, September has been becoming a very stressful month for me, luckily I could finish this, hopefully I can update my other fics soon as well, anyway, that's why I'm late, with that said- _*On With The Show*_)**

Astrid stood in front of a large stone door, swirls, shapes and other strange symbols were engraved into it. Looking down she could see a small door handle sticking out on the side of the entrance. Wanting nothing more than to get in and out and finally leave this nightmare behind her, Astrid put her hand out for it, but as she reached for the handle-

_"I wouldn't"_ Allison warned.

"OW" Astrid shrieked.

A large flick of electricity bolted into her skin. She quickly backed away from it, rubbing her good hand over her other one, still stinging and slowly turning numb.

_"I told you, it isn't that easy"_ Allison scolded her.

The blonde grumbled, she hated to admit when she was wrong, especially if someone were to scold her about it, looking closer, she saw no keyhole or lock for access. Astrid put three fingers on the locket, "so exactly how _do_ I get in ?"

_"The combination is simple" _Allison explained_ "Look at the pictures, pick the five pointed star, turn the three ringed circle, press on the arrow head and knock on the rose symbol three times"._

Astrid listened attentively to her directions and took a deep breath, her hand began shaking as she started reaching out to touch one of the engravings, her skin began to tingle and prickle at the cold stone, and a tiny shock of electricity bit through her finger, but this time, was easily ignorable, seeing as she wasn't technically trying to force her way in as she did at first.

After knocking on the rose engraving three times, Astrid bit her lip and gripped the door handle again, flicking her wrist slowly to the right. Her eyes closed in sweet bliss and relief once she heard the door click, allowing her to pull it open. Cobwebs and specks of dust flew out and into the air around Astrid, making her cough and gagged at the musty substance, now covering her mouth she definitely had a good idea on how long it had been since someone had last entered the chamber.

The blonde walked through the door, at first completely dark but one by one, the torches hooked on the walls sensed her presence and immediately enlightened with flames; Astrid jumped up in shock, gripping the locket with both fists for protection against the dark magic.

Realizing it was nothing more than a simple magic trick, Astrid mentally kicked herself for her actions and cursed under her breath; while trying to also calm her now racing heart-beat. "Hiccup" she thought, she was doing this to help Hiccup.

Walking through the now lightened room her eyes bugged out, her mouth opened wide at the view of her surroundings. The lair had a tall bookcase filled with several pages of what Astrid could only guess what kind of information. The entire antechamber floor was covered in sand, the small remains of what looked like old drawings could still be seen in the corner of the room; beside it was what looked like the remains of an old bonfire with the remaining burnt wood and ashes. A large item stood near the center with a large, deep purple drape put over it, not allowing Astrid from seeing what was under it. But beside the hidden object was a work bench. Astrid could see it was covered with a few pendents, some stray papers and what she was looking for. . . a few corked up viles and potions.

_"It's a dark red color. . . kind of looks like wine"_ Allison identified.

At first Astrid was excited, but quickly melted into fear and restraint. Was she really going to do this ? Use _magic_ ? Isn't that what started the problem in the first place ?

Astrid approached the bench, her legs felt heavy like iron, she felt as though she wasn't walking but merely _dragging_ her feet over to the wooded table, whether it was wariness for what she was about to do or some sort of protection magic of it's own, she wasn't sure.

Reaching it, Astrid allowed her hand to linger above the potions, tapping the air around her fingers, her eyes searching for the right color vial. Eyes sifting through greens, blues, yellows, and a pink until the optics fell upon a dark rouge liquid. Happily surprised, Astrid grabbed the glass quickly with anticipation, her reflection gleamed through the deep scarlet potion.

Putting two fingers of her other hand out, she stroked the bottle. All her fear was lifting away, the feeling of power and control returned to her, her confidence restoring. A dark, twisted grin began forming and deepening onto her pale lips as she mumbled two, chilling words.

"You're move."

* * *

><p>What she felt didn't last long though. Astrid clenched the liquid in her hand, by this time the sky was dark, she just now left the hidden chamber, the only sounds were of the chirping crickets echoing inside the grim forest, Astrid felt the waryness come back to her, like a plague as the beads of sweat pour down her brow. Why should she feel this way, she won right, she had the potion, she had Allison, so why did she feel so. . . .<em>scared<em>, like the weight of Katherine still held on her shoulders.

"_Hey. . .you okay_"

"Ye. .yeah. . f. .fine" Astrid stuttered unconvincingly .

It was strange and somehow cruel, the content feeling of control satisfied Astrid, but it quickly pulled away from her soon after she left Katherine's lair and began walking back to Berk, like though it was trying to mock her, but what Astrid didn't understand was. . . _why_ ?

The locket grew slightly warmer, symbolizing Allison was trying to comfort her, giving her a warm substitution to the chill of the night, _"Hey don't worry, we've_ _won"._

"I know, I know. . .it's just that. . .

"_I completely understand, but don't worry about it"._

Astrid nodded, looking around, the forest began to looked eerily similar to how it looked in Katherine's dream land, Astrid began walking a little faster out of the wood and towards the village. The village, yes, she would be safe once she was in the village, but wait. . . she was safe now !. . . . . .Wasn't she ?"

"_Careful you're going to drop it_ !" Allison hissed in scornful force.

"Excuse me ?" Astrid questioned at the sudden hostility in her new friend's voice.

Allison must have noticed it too because her voice immediately softened down "_What_ _I meant was that I don't want you to lose you're chance at this_".

Soon enough the Haddock household came into view, Astrid looked up at Hiccup's window, "Toothless, would you mind ?"

The night-fury nodded and allowed her on his back and flew to the window, luckily opened, and entered Hiccup's room.

Astrid walked towards the brunette, still asleep in his bed, she frowned, she had been lucky, what would have happened if she came any later than when she did, or if she never came at all ? She hated to think what might have happened.

Looking down at the vial, she just now realized that she was holding it with the hand with Hiccup's bracelet on it. She gave a small smile, this would fix him, it would. . . . . .it _had_ to.

_"Make sure he drinks the whole vial, not a Single. Drop. Left." _Allison instigated.

Astrid uncorked the lid from the vial and lead the formula to Hiccup's mouth, she knew he wouldn't wake up, just one glance and she could tell even after hours he was still exhausted, what Katherine did messed with his head in ways Astrid couldn't even begin to understand, but now. . . .now the chaos would be over.

She slid the tonic down his throat, it smelled spicy and sweet, like cinnamon and honey, she could only guess what it tasted like, Hiccup must have enjoyed for he smiled and opened his mouth slightly wider in his sleep, making more room for the tonic to go in. Once she was sure he had taken it all she put the now-empty glass on his nightstand.

_"We should go"_

"Go ?" Astrid questioned, "but what about-

_"The potion will take a while to settle in, plus you need to get home before you're parents get worried_"

But Astrid didn't feel right about leaving Hiccup, especially now in his sensitive state, "I could always come up with a excuse for-

"_Astrid !_" Allison persisted, the locket began to heat up, "_if anyone finds out about Katherine, about me, then what , you'll be banished like she was, and what if she has more tricks to pull, then no-one can save Hiccup , I'm still trapped remember !"_

Astrid sighed and nodded slowly, as much as she wanted to stay here with Hiccup, she knew she still had to be cautious, they weren't done yet, at least not for a little while longer.

"Okay".

* * *

><p>Late in the night, the moon hidden by clouds, turning the sky pitch black by the Haddock house laied Hiccup fast asleep as the potion began taking it's affect.<p>

In dream, Hiccup was flying Toothless, the sky bright and sun shining across the sea below him, laughing with delight pass the sea-stacks that stood up across the ocean. While flying higher into the clouds, the white, wet, and puffy substances hitting his face provided more exhilaration.

"Come on bud" he petted his dragon's snout, "let's try number 17 ."

The night-fury nodded, opening his wings to their full extent and shooting up to the sky like a rocket, only to fly back down, spinning his and Hiccup's bodies around whilst doing it then shooting a plasma blast down. Hiccup opened Toothless's tail out, unhooked the latch that connected him to the saddle and jumped off Toothless, through the fire ring, but caught again once again by the reptile seconds before his body could make contact with the water.

"Alright good job bud" Hiccup said, Toothless gave a happy snort in agreement.

But then, the sky began to dim, dream Hiccup looked up to see the white clouds had turned thin and dark gray in hue; the once bright clear water had turned inky black; it looked as though a dark shadow had loomed over him, but is wasn't just that, he felt. . . ._cold_, and strangely. . . _tired_, as though all of his energy was beginning to be slowly devoured away by this shadow. His head was in full alarm and he had only one thought- Run.

Hiccup looked down at his companion, "Toothless, get us out of here bud"

He nodded in agreement, his reptilian eyes now set and determined to fly out of the now dark area the shadow was placing on them. He ranged at top speed, the wind now slapping at the brunette's face harder and more painfully like a whip, but he didn't notice, the only thing he cared about was getting away from the depressing aura; and soon enough he looked to see that the water was once again shining reflected light from the bright sun.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, petting Toothless for a job well done, but when he turned his head back at the ocean view behind him, he froze, his eyes filling with terror, the dark force was following them ! Quickly, like a gray dipped paint brush gliding across the landscape, gripping away the life out of everything it touched and it was coming for them !

"Toothless, come on bud we need to lose it"

The reptile tried to oblige but every time Hiccup looked back he could see the force gaining on them ready to wither them away. Toothless kept flying, faster and faster, it came to that Hiccup wasn't even looking where they were going, all he knew was that they needed to get away from the shadow.

But then, in a blur, Hiccup felt himself falling, falling down, down towards the ocean. He readied himself for the impact , yet it never came, he never felt the wet force of the water, he felt as though he was floating on air, he couldn't see Toothless, looking up to see the sky came once again dark, now it was clear, the shadow had caught him.

His neck tightened, Hiccup gasped at the sudden force around his throat and began to chock, small tears began forming out of his eyes, the darkness seemed to be turning blacker and the chocking feeling was becoming much more painful. His energy felt as though it was draining away from his body, making his body limb and numb, everything was turning into the shade of dusted charcoal.

He tried, truly he did, he tried to fight it off, but any energy or power that he could savage in his mind was being pulled away from him, swiftly and forcefully, stripping him of any will to continue.

"_Calm down, it's okay_"

That voice, he knew that voice, from somewhere, it was so distant yet so close, so soft yet vicious at the same time, like a sweet poison, he knew it would not resist in killing him yet something about it made him want to drink it in, drink in this voice and listen to it.

"_You're safe now, you must rest_"

Rest, he thought, that sounded like a good idea. With this thought the choking had begun easing on him and becoming less and less painful, his body felt chilled and numb.

"_Rest_" it repeated.

Hiccup smiled, "rest" he mouthed as the darkness engulfed him.

**(Hmmmm, I wonder what will be the effects of this potion. Will it help Hiccup ? And if so, how ? Why have such a disturbing dream then ? This many questions and more, see you soon Read and _Review_ and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	12. Chapter 12: Okay

**(If you are one of the people that read my "To The Future" fic, you would know that during last month, I was going through a sense of depression and lack of confidence in my abilities, and had a few computer problems, I would like to thank my loyal readers and your lovely comments that are helping me regain faith in myself, thank you)**

**(Now where were we ? Mhhhhhh. Oh yes that's right, Chapter 12) **

The wind blew mournfully across the late night moon outside Hiccup's bedroom, as a wisping soul allowed herself access inside. Katherine entered, her eyes glanced down at the stone slab and the beast sleeping on it. She sneered, the overgrown lizard had a talent for sniffing out things he had no business getting in to.

In a boastful mood, the ghost leaned down close to Toothless, it was so late in the night that the reptile was too far deep in his sleep to be waken, but in dream he could still sniff and growl at her presence, no doubt dreaming of hunting her.

And ending her.

A dark and pleased look began to form as she put it near the dragon's ear, but not too close as to alert and wake him.

"Sorry scaly." Katherine stated bitterly "But I'm not so easy to get rid of". She gleefully watched him squirm.

"Actually-" She glanced over at Hiccup. "My work here is just now beginning."

Toothless shaked his head and shifted his body with discomfort, shutting his eyes even tighter due to unpleasantness. Katherine smiled at his reaction.

"Poor little dragon." She said mockingly. "Afraid of the Big Bad. . . .

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr" the dragon growled in sleep.

Katherine quickly took a few steps back warily. "Pfft." She scoffed. "Stupid dragon".

No longer wasting time her with the Night Fury, Katherine approached Hiccup's bedside. It was only a few moments until midnight.

Locked inside his slumber, happy and content, Hiccup smiled ear to ear within his subconscious. Katherine gazed down at him lovingly putting her fingers through his hair, whatever he was dreaming of, she knew he was at peace inside it.

But then that peace ended.

Hiccup's body started developing a dark glow, and Katherine knew what was happening.

It was midnight and the potion was now taking it's affect.

Even though a high level professional of magic, Katherine couldn't help but bite down on her lip in concern at the body before her. Hiccup's face had begin to change, first what was contentment, abruptly switched to confusion and fear.

She hated seeing him like this, lost and afraid inside his own mind. When she left him trapped last time, it was only out of anger, and she knew he would wake up eventually anyway, but this was different.

Hiccup's face twisted in a look of extreme discomfort and pain, the black glow shined brighter and forced itself onto the boy's body, demanding access into his soul, heart, and mind. A terrible choking sound escaped from the back of his throat and the small beginnings of tears shown at the corners of his enclosed eyes.

Katherine gasped, her mind now ready for panic, yet she forced herself to remain calm. The potion was trying to take affect, but Hiccup's body was resisting it, the only way for the spell to finish and Hiccup's discomfort to end would be for him to calm down.

The spirit rested a cool hand on his fore-head, brushing away auburn locks from his eyes, and leaning down close, she whispered into his ear.

"Shhhh shhh shh, there, there, calm down, it's okay." She spoke soothingly into his ear like that of a mother to a lost child.

Hiccup's scrunched face started to loosened tension, showing he was beginning to listen to her. Katherine grinned and continued.

"You're safe now." She whispered. "You must rest".

The strain in his features had eased dramatically and his face was once again one of calmness and peace. In slumber he mouthed "rest".

"That's right my dear." Katherine whispered. "Rest".

Now relieved of one obstacle, her blue eyes shifted to the ominous glow now humming around his body, taking control and opening his mind. Ready, she took one of his hands in hers, putting it close to her face as she muttered an incantation.

"Pet tru vey." Katherine whispered in dark magic tongues.

The humming grew louder

"Eh loyje shil".

The color drained away from Hiccup's face, turning it as pale and cold as it was when Astrid had first found him in the cove with Katherine.

"Ques du bred set." Katherine spoke louder.

She could feel energy and power flowing through her, and now gave a soft moan of pleasure, she hadn't felt this strong in decades !

"Lo PARMATRE!"

Katherine finished off the last word with as much force she could give, making sure the spell would be strong enough. Every witch knows that the last word of a chant finished the spell off and therefore had to be the strongest.

Letting go of his hand, Katherine grinned wickedly at the soft blue glow forming around it, and now imprinting on it the form of a Triquetra, **(look up "Triquetra" symbol)**.

The sorceress placed a small kiss on his forehead, making Hiccup shiver inside, and exited his room, whispering into the night-

"Now my real work begins."

* * *

><p>Rays of sunlight shone through the window and down on Astrid. Awake, yet eyes still closed, she smiled and allowed a slow yawn of contentment escape her lips. Her smile grew wider as she allowed herself to sit up and her blue eyes to blink open. She raised her arms up to stretch and let the warmth of the sun fill her body.<p>

_"Looks like someone had a nice sleep"_.

Astrid laughed putting on her shoulder pads and approaching her dresser. "Are you kidding, best I've had in days." She patted the locket. "Thanks to you." Astrid took out a hairbrush and began brushing out the tangles. "But are you sure it will work ?" She asked with light wariness.

The shield-maiden could feel the locket begin to hum softly as the sound of Allison's laugh rang inside her head._"Don't worry Astrid." T_he spirit chuckled with reassurance. _"The potion has defiantly taken affect, you're boyfriend is safe"_.

"Oh good, for a second there I thought-. . . wait, my what ?" Astrid asked, fingers pausing at her blonde locks to stare down at the necklace.

_"You're boyfriend, is he not ?_" Allison asked.

"No" Astrid rushed. "Well. . . . kind of. . . .sort of ?. . . it's complicated", she stuttered.

The more Astrid thought about it the more confused she became. What exactly **were** they anyway ? Were they friends ? Of course they liked each other. But to what extent did this admiration go ? After he woke up the first time, Astrid ended up quick to dismiss the kiss she gave as impulse on the fact he actually _survived_ the dragon nest.

Same could be said about the kiss she gave him yesterday. **Impulse**, impulse was all it was, only reacting to the guilt she had of not being able to help a friend. But would she had done the same if any of her other friends had something such as that happen to them ? Astrid shuddered and quickly shoved any thought or image of kissing Fishlegs, Tuffnut or **_*ick*_ **Snotlout, out of her mind before it could begin.

But this meant that the acts hadn't been impulse, but if it wasn't impulse or care for a friend. . .then what was it ?

"_You're confused._"

Astrid tensed, "well I. . .

_"Why ?"_ Allison asked, cutting her off. _"You clearly care about him and he seems like a really nice guy, what about him seems wrong to be interested in ?_"

That was a good point. But another good point came to mind for Astrid. "And what if I made a move and what if he rejects it, I'd rather keep him as a friend than risk losing him altogether".

_"So you're afraid."_

"NO" Astrid declared. She was a viking, and vikings weren't afraid of anything.

But something like this ?

. . . maybe" Astrid admitted.

_"I say go for it, besides, I was there, I saw the way he looked at you."_ Allison pitched.

"He was drowsy, he just woken up from an almost drowning!" Astrid argued.

But immediately regretted it. The necklace started heating up intensely in what could be shown as Allison getting irritated and at a loss on her patience.

_"UGH"_ she groaned. _"If you keep making excuses for yourself, your never gonna do anything in your life, take it from me Astrid, life is something that can be taken away from you at any moment, so are you just gonna sit around and wait for good things to happen, or are you gonna MAKE THEM HAPPEN ?_"

The locket had simmered so immensely that Astrid had to grab at the chain and keep the sizzling piece of jewelry off her neck before a burn mark could form.

Once Allison had been finished her raging, it still took several more minutes before Astrid could allow the charm to fall back onto her skin, and even now it tingled with warmth. Astrid looked up at herself in the mirror and allowed Allison's words to sink in, with her metal shoulder pads and hair in braid she felt like herself again.

**Astrid** the Warrior.

**Astrid** the Ax Wielder.

**Astrid** Who Wasn't Afraid Of Anything.

That included establishing herself with Hiccup.

The blonde's eyes narrowed, now with determination, without taking them off the mirror, taking one hand to strap her ax to her belt and the other clenching the locket, she took a deep breath.

"You're right Allison, I'm gonna do it, I'm going to go to Hiccup".

_"That'a girl, just remember, take advantage of every opportunity given to you_".

Astrid nodded. "That's what I'm planning to do". The viking teen shoved on her boots and ran down the stairs.

"I'm gonna walk out this house".

_"Yeah"_.

"Go right to the Hall".

"_That's right_".

"And finally do it".

"Do what dear ?"

Astrid paused and looked to see she had reached the ground floor of her home and both her parents looking at her expectantly.

"Do what dear ?" Her mother asked again.

The young teen blushed bright red in sudden realization."Oh. . I. . .um. . . .NOTHING. . .just talking to myself."

Her parents both raised an eyebrow, confused and wary. Astrid forced a fake smile to finish off suspicion . Her heart feeling like it was beating a hundred times a minute. Her feelings were one thing she had never felt comfortable talking about with anyone, and her parents were no exception.

"Well. . .alright then. . have fun with that." Her mother replied.

Astrid nodded and quickly ran out the door and to the stables.

_"Wow, you're good under pressure."_ Allison replied sarcastically.

* * *

><p>"Morning Stormfly !"<p>

At the sound of her rider's voice, the dragon rushed out of her pen to greet the blonde. But once she came at appropriate length from her rider, Stormfly paused.

Something didn't smell right here.

The nadder put her snout up closer to Astrid with suspicion and caution.

"Whoa, whoa, girl, calm down !" Astrid replied as the reptile pushed her snout onto Astrid's chest.

_"She's probably just not used to my scent, I'd leave her alone if I were you."_ Allison suggested.

Astrid raised an eyebrow. "I can't just leave her here, she needs to fly-"

"_She has wings._" Allison cut her off.

"She needs to eat and-

Once again, Allison cut her off. _"Can the dragon not feed herself?!"_ The spirit defended. _"I believe my scent might be too much for her right now, I'd let her be, so that her mind can process it."_ Allison explained.

Astrid, at first questioning, but now nodded in agreement and began walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Allison had a way of making the strange or questionable easier to answer for, that was one thing Astrid couldn't help but admire about her.

* * *

><p>Although, once Astrid opened the door of the Hall, something differed.<p>

Like a spark had just turned itself on. Astrid's head felt light, her fingers tingled in a pleasant way, her mind felt clear and free from pressure. Every step she took entering felt like air beneath her. She grinned at this new sensation

She felt happy.

Now with a sudden burst pleasantness came a abrupt feeling of courage and confidence pushing through her veins, Astrid strutted in proudly into the Great Hall, happy and confident that her problems were over. She grabbed a plate and sat down with the other teens, humming happily to herself.

"Wow, you're in a good mood." Ruffnut replied.

"Yeah, did something happen ?" Snotlout asked. "Or are you just happy to see me ?"

Astrid shrugged with a beaming smile. "Just happy, what's not to be happy about, it's a new day, no drama, no fuss, just a regular, normal, all right. . .

"Hey guys."

All eyes turned to see Hiccup appearing before them and taking a seat. "What's going on ?"

"Well Snotlout just hit on Astrid and she's yet to punch him". Fishlegs started. "So it's my hypothesis is either illness, head injury, or dragon nip."

Instead of the usual Astrid response of one quick punch to the gut, the blonde just chuckled. "Guys, really I'm fine."

The others, besides Hiccup, turned to each other with a worried look. Just the other day, the very same girl was accusing them of drugging her dragon. Where did this impetuous joy inside the viking teen come from ?

Even Astrid herself didn't know, but ever since she agreed with Allison and walked into the Hall, it was as though someone had just hit the happy button on her, every worry she carried for the past few days left her head.

But she was too pleased to care.

The teenagers chatted among themselves, the usual arrogance of Snotlout, followed quickly by either twins's stupidity or craziness, added by the calm logic and reasoning from Fishlegs that was usually ignored. It was several minutes of the banter Astrid drowned out, until felt time to act on her reasoning for even coming in and sitting down. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself.

"Hey Hiccup-

"Wow Hic, when'd you get a tattoo?" Tuffnut cut Astrid off.

"Really where?" Snotlout asked with fascination.

"His hand." Tuffnut answered.

All eyes turned to Hiccup, and indeed, on the palm of his right hand, a peculiar symbol caught Astrid's sight. It looked as though it had been burned onto him, like a branding. Though Astrid didn't get a very close look at it, for Hiccup forcefully tugged at his sleeve and shoved his hand under the table.

"It's a birthmark." Hiccup spat. His eyes narrowed onto Tuff's with a look dark and twisted, just daring the teen to continue. "_Just_ a birthmark."

A look that could put a chill down you're spine.

A look of someone ready to kill if they could.

A very non-Hiccup look.

Tuffnut shifted further down in his seat on the bench across from the chief's son. Something about the way his aqua green eyes just seemed to gaze down on the male twin creeped him out to no end.

But not much time was focused on this as Hiccup turned immediately away from Tuffnut, either too pleased or oblivious to his intimidation to him, and faced Astrid with a new topic. "By the way Astrid, I need to talk to you after training today."

"Talk?" She questioned. "About what?"

Hiccup dismissed it. "You'll see, just meet me at the cove right after training alright?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow but shrugged her shoulders. "Alright. . .I guess."

"Oh. Come. ON!" Snotlout argued. "What is it?"

"Nothing". Hiccup answered.

"It MUST be pretty embarrassing." Snotlout continued.

"It's **NOTHING-**" Hiccup shouted.

The others scooted themselves slowly back, all now shocked and astounded by the sudden outburst from the usual calming peacekeeper of the group.

Hiccup noticed their actions and immediately settled himself and slowly seated himself back down. "_Ahem,_ it's nothing. . . to concern yourself with, it's a little thing I'd like to discuss with Astrid, _alright_ !" He emphasized the last word, clearly stating it, not a question, but a demand to finish the discussion.

Snotlout's mouth closed, as did the others's as well on the topic, and no one else questioned it.

Ruffnut mentally thought to herself, not even daring to speak it. "_Wow, it's like all this week's bitterness jumped out of Astrid and into Hiccup_".

The rest of breakfast was finished in practically complete silence and the teenagers rose from the table to go outside to the arena. But as Hiccup was walking out of the Great Hall-

"Hey Hiccup?" Astrid spoke softly, placing a hand delicately on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Instead of the scowl and barking comment she expected to come out of him, Hiccup turned his head and smiled at her comfortingly, carefully taking her hand from his shoulder.

"I'm fine, why?" He asked.

"Well it's just that. . .

"Astrid." He chuckled at her worries and now placed himself right behind her, putting his hands on her upper arms, right under her shoulder pads. "I'm fine". He whispered.

Astrid couldn't help but shiver at the contact, Hiccup had never dared to get this close to her before, the act scared her, and yet also. . . **excited** her.

_"Take advantage of every opportunity given to you"._

Allison's words repeated in her head, she wasn't even sure on whether it was Allison reminding her or just her own memory.

"So the cove after training, alright ?" He asked again.

Astrid gasped as a cold feeling tingled down her spine, and for a split-second, a blue spark could be seen reflecting in her eyes.

"Alright." She breathed.

* * *

><p><strong>(So it seems Katherine's antics aren't over. . .but if that potion was what she <span><em>wanted<em> in Hiccup. . . .then why would Allison give have Astrid give to Hiccup ? What lies in store for Astrid ? Can and will Katherine be stopped ? I know the answers but you don't. Next one should be out by Friday.)**

**(PS: The incantation I gave for Katherine, was just gibberish, so if some of those words are actually from another language, it was COMPLETELY unintentional) **

**(Read and review. Review. REVIEW. But seriously, reviews are my bread and butter. This is Moonlight Snowflake signing off).**


	13. Chapter 13: A Gift

**(Hey look, I made it to Friday. . .or at least that's the day where I am. Anyway, thank you for the comments, and PLEASE feel free to send in more, I know this one is kind of short and might not be my best, but that's only because I plan the next one to be out by this Tuesday. . .or at least Tuesday where I am, it might already be Tuesday for you, for all I know.) **

**(Anyway, grab your tablets, computers and cellphones, for I present Chapter 12)**

"Okay. . . .", she mumbled.

.

.

.

.

.

"ASTRID WAKE UP!"

A piercing shout dragged Astrid out of her bliss blanketed mindset. "Huh. . .what?" She shook her head, trying to bring back awareness of reality.

"You alright, you looked kind of zoned out." Ruffnut replied.

"Ruff?" Astrid asked. "What happened?"

The Thortson twin shrugged. "Beats me, when we all made it to the arena, only you and Hic weren't there so Gobber had me go back to check."

"Uh huh. . ." She mumbled, putting a free hand to her head, Ruff's voice felt blurred and hard to comprehend, due to the still lingering numbness inside her mind.

Ruffnut noticed her actions and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder for support, in the likely chance she collapsed.

"And it looks like a good thing I did. What happened girl, you look like you just woke up from the dead or something?"

"Nothing." Astrid answered weakly. "Hiccup and I were just talking and. . . .wait. .WHERE'S HICCUP?" The sudden outburst took the energy from Astrid's body and her legs started to wobble, making her almost fall onto the ground.

"Woah, careful Ash." Ruff warned, allowing Astrid to use her for support. "Hiccup met me half-way her, and told me where to find you."

"Why didn't he come with you?" Astrid asked, trying to work her strength back up.

Now it was time to Ruff to be confused. "Didn't he tell you? Chief's having him do some mission for the. . .Meathead Tribe. . .or something like that." She explained. "He won't be back till this afternoon."

"What!?" Surprised, Astrid tried to stand herself back up, only to wobble down again, having Ruff catch her.

"Keep doing that and you'll collapse completely." Ruffnut positioned Astrid's arm over her shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you to the academy."

* * *

><p>Astrid walked down the forest path towards the cove, it was late in the afternoon, almost lunchtime, and by this time, her body gained back it's strength. <span><em>*What could he possible need to talk to me about?*<em> she questioned mentally. This thought lingered inside her buzzing skull all through-out training, up to this very moment.

Hiccup was usually a very open person, what could he need to tell her that he felt he couldn't tell anyone else?

However, the blonde was soon pulled out of her thoughts by a sudden new realization.

Were those. . ._rose petals_ ?

Indeed, a path made of the scarlet chromed flower covered the forest floor. Continuing down the path, it was clear they were going in the same direction, giving her a good idea on who put them there.

True to theory, reaching the cove, Astrid found at the end of the rosy path, a scrawny, freckled-face teen smiled to her.

Hiccup gave her a shrug and motioned her closer. "Shall we milady?"

Hearing the surprising comment, Astrid could already feel the heat rushing to her pinkening cheeks. As she came closer, she could see that right beside the pond was an already set blanket with two plates of food, two drinking glasses and a vase with roses in it.

"Hungry?"

Astrid smiled. "Smoked salmon, my favorite."

As the two sat down for their meal, Hiccup turned and took a tall bottle out of the basket and began pouring the bright pink liquid in her glass.

"What is that", she asked curiously.

"Just a **special** drink".

The answer slightly disturbed her, but idea of Hiccup _poisoning_ her, was too ridiculous an idea to comprehend.

Instead she gave a light-hearted chuckle. "What's the occasion?"

"The occasion is us". Hiccup stated, pouring himself a glass.

Astrid gave a half-hearted laugh, taking a sip of the drink. The taste surprised her, sweet and warm, like a pot of honey just put off the fire, giving a soft tingling to her tongue, and it seemed with every drop hitting her mouth, it developed even more enjoyable. Soon enough mere sips turned into full gulps of the intoxicating liquid. Before Astrid knew it, her glass was empty.

Hiccup watched with eager eyes as she finished, developing a crooked grin at the now empty cup. Standing up, he opened his hand out offering it to her.

"Would you like to dance?"

"What?" she asked. Astrid paused herself, did Hiccup just ask her to. . . .dance?

"A dance." Hiccup offered again, confirming her.

Unsure what to do in such situation, the blonde forced out a laugh, as though trying to determine the gesture as some awkward joke in need of finishing up. "There's no music." She added, still laughing, a blushing bright red.

Hiccup merely smiled fondly at her shyness. "Who said anything about music?" he whispered, taking hold of her hand. He pulled her up with him, and now waited patiently for her permission.

The invitation baffled Astrid, yet also intrigued her. A few minutes ago, she'd probably had said no and bolted out of this confusing situation. . . but the way his eyes were now looking at her an almost glow to it. . . .her heart felt ready to jump out of her throat. This feeling frightened her, yet at the same time gave a rush of adrenaline into her veins.

"Okay." She answered shyly.

Taking hold of both her hands, he positioned one of her's to his shoulder and allowed the other one to fold with his. Leading, Hiccup swayed her across the forest floor.

Spinning and twirling her around as though she was part of the wind itself, each movement made her feel as light a feather, like she was walking on air, the feeling was incredible.

Astrid giggled at the sensation, hours it seemed they danced, with her just allowing him to take control. It was different then what she had usually set, now her defenses had been lowered and her soul was opened for him to see.

Within seconds, still inside a consoling cavort, a soft beat approached Astrid's eardrums. Soft yet hardly noticeable, but becoming louder with every step they took together, becoming, louder and repetitive, yet strangely. . . .soothing of tempo matching the rhythm of their footsteps. Astrid listened to the sounds echoing in her ear drums, and now allowed her eyes to close, and her head to sway with the tempo.

Back and Forth.

Left and Right.

It was as though the even cadence of drums were going through her brain, relaxing and soothing the inner pleasure of her subconscious.

The longer she listened, the more her thoughts drifted. Her mind felt soft, fuzzier, but much more relaxed.

She liked it. Freeing herself from holding the reins all the time. Hiccup seemed to allow her to just let go.

Until he paused the dance. "Sit down". He commanded, whispering to her ear.

Astrid nodded, the tiredness of her legs now coming known to her, having her collapse back down onto the ground, only to have Hiccup catch her mid-way and delicately placing her onto the grass.

"Feel better?" he asked her.

"Mhhmmmm. . . ." She murmured, too weak to even contemplate words now.

"Here", he spoke gently, "let me help".

The blonde began to feel the pressure of her shoulder pads leave her body, and a loud *_thunk*_ hit the ground.

Looking down at her, entranced and vulnerable, a brilliant blue glow circled around Hiccup's hands as he placed them on her now exposed shoulders.

"Wha. . .OH, ohhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm". She moaned in pleasure at this new sensation. His hands tingled, on her skin, making her entire body vibrate with excitement.

"Ohhhhh. . .oh h. .hic. . . "she tried to pronounce his name.

"Shh, shhh, it's okay." His voice whispered. "Just relax, Just. Let. Go." He spoke so gently, so comfortingly, into her ear. Astrid couldn't help but listen.

And obey.

"Give in my dear."

She feebly nodded as his hands worked on her body. One trailed up and down her back, while the other un-did her messy braid and stroked strands of it, playing with it, even caressing her cheek, ear, and nose with it.

Astrid's entire body felt like jelly, and her mind was clear and open for suggestion. She couldn't stop this if she wanted to.

But why _would_ she want to?

"Now I'm going to ask you a question, okay."

"Okay", she moaned as his hand snaked down her arm, making her giggle, happily submitted to him.

Hiccup took the round object out of his pocket and down to the hypnotized girl's hand, sliding it onto her index finger.

"You will open your eyes for me now my dear", he commanded her.

Astrid fluttered her heavy eyelids open to see a new shiny gold object resting around her finger, shimmering in the sunlight. A dazed and drunken grin spread onto her face.

"You like your gift." He told her.

"I like my gift." She repeated monotone.

"You accept your gift".

"I accept my gift." She answered.

"You _love_ your gift".

"Yes. . .I love my gift".

Pleased by her submission and obedience, Hiccup settled her down.

"Good my dear, and now you will close your eyes and rest."

Astrid obeyed him, closing her eyes once again, having him lay her head down and allow her to rest.

"Well done Hiccup."

Hiccup looked away uncaring at the body and towards the source of the voice. Katherine transpired through the air and beside him, and of course, he made no reaction. Except now, she looked different, her once fair skin was now transparent, she herself still visible, but much more unnatural, like if she had been made out of air, her hair seemed lighter in shade, and bags and creases were under her eyes and around her face.

For Katherine, even now with a human life force at her command, another soul still lived inside it, and keeping it under control for so long was next to unbearable, but for her, the exhaustion had been worth it. Hiccup automatically stepped out of her way as Katherine made it over towards the body.

Taking a ghostly blue finger, Katherine took in a breath and began drawing invisible shapes across Astrid's face. Displeasure scrunched Astrid's features together for several seconds before Katherine held back.

She released her breath with a sigh of relief, as she did so, her appearance changed. Her skin, though pale, became once-more solid and whole, her hair regained it's raven colored texture and every wrinkle and bag melted away from her face.

Glancing at her reflection in the pond, Katherine smiled, pleased and satisfied, before turning back to Hiccup.

"Our time is closing in dear." She said, stroking his cheek, yet he remained emotionless.

"Soon I will have what I want. . . and what I deserve". Now she started messing with his hair, ruffling it playfully, "thanks to you."

Katherine positioned herself closer to him, and brushed her lips against his cheek.

**(Note: Astrid was only TEMPORARILY hypnotized by a magic mind game, Hiccup literally has his soul being corrupted to the core by black magic)**

**(Note: The pink liquid Hiccup gave Astrid is a very easy potion of herbs used for numbing the brain)**

**(So what do you suppose Katherine's plan is. Any idea ? Tell me in the comments. Here's a hint, I mentioned Katherine's "control" on human souls and the energy needed for it, for a good reason. Read and Review, and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	14. Chapter 14: I Deserve This

**(Okay, I need to explain myself, during my time writing this, I became ill, and by the time I got better, I had to make up for lost time in my school work, and in my daily life, this was followed by an intense supply of writer's block, and. . .well. . .you know the rest.)**

**(But here's a little something that might make up for it, I actually made a cute little one-shot for Hiccup and Astrid called "Don't Catch Cold" as an apology, you can go to my profile to see it, and speaking of Hiccup and Astrid, WHAT DOES KATHERINE HAVE IN STORE?!)**

Hours later, undisturbed since Hiccup and Katherine's departure, she lay. Soothed and calmed, that is until the sun set and the moon rose, allowing the cold breeze of night to fall onto the sleeping body, startling it. Due to her slumber's disturbance, a small squeak of a gasp escaped her lips, as Astrid sat back up, now awake and shuddering from the cool wind.

"What. . . .happened?" Astrid murmured, trying to remember, she could already feel the soft poundings of a head-ache knocking through her skull.

Wait! She stopped. It was night! How long had she been asleep? Where was Hiccup? What in Thor's name happened to her!?

With a groan of irritation, Astrid placed her hand on her head, whilst her body gained back strength and her eyes accustomed to her new darkened atmosphere. Placing her arm back down, Astrid's attention soon, was ripped away to a soft glimmer from the grass catching her eye.

"What's this?" She questioned.

Raising her hand up to her face, Astrid could see the light was coming from the moon's light reflecting off something on her hand. Astrid took the foreign object off her finger, only now realizing she had been wearing it, to get a better look.

"What the-

Her sentence was cut short, as Astrid gave a loud shriek of fear and dropped the object onto the grass, now scooting herself away from it. Her heart now furiously pounding in her chest, and her stomach twisting itself in uncomfortable forms.

It was an _**engagemen****t**_ ring!

Bits and pieces of memory were now starting to return to her, but only small parts. First there was the picnic, then the dance. . . .then. . .then the. . . something else, Hiccup comforting her, making her body feel light and pleasant. . .and. . .and. . . .something. . . .and the ring going on her finger. . . .

And her accepting.

Astrid put a hand over her mouth, to try and keep from screaming. Yet even in muffled words, one could still make out what she said.

"Oh no, oh nonononononono NO, what did I do, what did I do, oh sweet Odin, what did I do?" She pleaded for an answer.

How could she do this? Accept a marriage proposal, not simply Hiccup's, but _any_ marriage proposel at **_fifteen_** !? Astrid wasn't ready for that, of course she wanted to get married _someday_, but not now, not when there was so much left to live for! Marriage would mean next to no time for training, or being with her friends, or her dragon, or anything! She simply wasn't ready for that, even just thinking about it now made her head dizzy.

Tears now ready to escape her eyes, Astrid slumped her head back down in defeat and whispered. "What have I done?"

_"Isn't this wonderful Astrid, I'm so proud of you, I told you, you could do it!"_ Allison squealed with joy. The locket practically glowing with the spirit's happiness. _"Isn't this just perfect!"_

"Perfect?" Astrid's voice raised. "Allison, how can you say that?"

_"What? Wasn't that the plan?"_ The spirit teased.

"NO!" Astrid screamed. "Well. . .yes. . .kind of?" She tried speaking, thinking over how to explain these new and complex feelings tightening her chest.

"The plan was to get him to like me. . . .possible courting" Astrid blushed muttering the last two words under her breath, her cheeks growing brighter, before continuing. "But _'this'_!" She exclaimed. "Marriage? It's just insanity!"

_"Oh. . . I see."_ Allison mumbled with disappointment._ "Then I guess, perhaps, I can help with your problem."_

Astrid rolled her eyes. "And how do you plan to do that?"

_"Well. . . ._" Allison's voice trailed off. _"I didn't plan on telling so soon, but. . .I may know of a spell that can free me from this locket."_

"WHAT!?" Astrid leaped to her feet, clenching the piece of possessed jewelry in a tight fist. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner, like, oh I don't know, when I first **_'found you'_**?" She demanded.

The locket turned warmer, showing the ghost had taken offense, making Astrid release her grip, before it became to hot to handle. _"Ugh._" Allison groaned. _"Due to my soul being, oh I don't know, '**stuck in a piece of metal'**"_ Allison spoke venomously mocking Astrid's first question._ "I would need a mortal body to perform it, and I needed to make sure we could trust one-another first!"_

Astrid took this new relation and looked down at her feet in shame by the obvious information. "That does make sense." She muttered.

_"Exactly."_ Allison agreed. _"Which means that I can help you, all I need to know is that I can trust you?"_

"Of course." Astrid answered.

_"And do you trust me?"_ Allison asked.

That was a tricky question. Being born and raised a warrior, Astrid had learned to follow her instincts and to never entirely give your trust to anyone. To always keep an eye out. But then again, Allison, from the beginning was always trying to help her, not harm her, better yet what _could_ Allison do to harm her, she was trapped inside a necklace. A necklace, at first feared, Astrid now wore proudly on her neck, as a sign of power over Katherine.

Astrid smiled. Allison proved herself, (though a bit strict and tense), someone who only had Astrid's best intentions at heart.

"Yes."

If only Astrid could see the curved grin growing onto Allison's face at the sound of her answer.

_"Then let's get started."_

* * *

><p>Reaching the lair of the witch, Allison constructed Astrid on the ritual. The large object covered in a drape, when Astrid first entered the catacomb, Allison explained was an enchanted mirror, made specifically for powerful spells such as the one they were about to enact. First starting with making what the spirit called a Madvenler Ring, a large circle drawn with four even corners and specific symbols in each fourth, (depending on the spell), around the mirror. Taking an burnt out torch, Astrid began her work. The wood shook in her hand, according to Allison, magic was precise, the smallest of mistakes could ruin their chances of victory against Katherine.<p>

_"To pointed."_

_"Not straight enough."_

_"Wrong corner."_

_"There's a difference between oval and circle!"_

It went on for hours it seemed, in a way, Astrid was grateful for Allison being specific and detailed, seeing how she herself, had no knowledge on magic, and basically knew nothing of what she was trying to do.

On the other hand. . . .if she had to hear another nitpick, Astrid was just about ready to throw the Thor-forsaken locket away and deal with Katherine herself.

_"Done."_ Allison said at last.

Astrid groaned. "Finally!", she said rubbing the soreness of her back and knees from having to stand back up after spending so long on the ground.

Taking a firm grip, she pulled the old drape down off the mirror and across the sand behind the Madvenler Ring, coughing out old dust mites escaping from decades developing onto the fabric.

All was ready. Yet Astrid became hesitant.

In the dim and shadowy light of candles, her reflection looked foggy and almost unworldly, like she herself was a spirit. What if this was a sign? The gods giving her a last-chance picture of what could. . .what _would_ happen if Astrid went through with this. It was one thing to just grab a potion, but now, she was about to do a spell.

Magic.

Sorcery.

Withcraft.

Thinking over, Astrid took a step back. Was she ready to face the consequences of her actions? If she did this, would she be shamed? Exiled? Would she even still have a soul after doing such a sin. When she died, would her own spirit just linger on, forever draped within misery?

Looking back at the reflection, fear began to fill her every being, just wishing that the person she saw in the mirror, with their skin and face, blurred and misty in the candlelight, who looked as though they had been separated from their body-

Was someone else.

_"Astrid, there are only so many hours in the night."_ Allison spoke impatiently.

The blonde nodded, still in doubt, inside she knew there was no other way to go. How else was there to fight magic, than with magic? But if Astrid really did go through with this. . . .did. . .did that make her any better than Katherine?

_NO!_ She screamed quickly inside her head. Katherine was evil, not bad, not mean, only pure wicked **evil**. She took Hiccup, kind, noble, intelligent Hiccup, one of the most cherished people in Astrid's life and turned him into her puppet. Now Astrid couldn't even try to imagine what Katherine even planned to do with him.

**To** him.

The viking teen wasn't sure she could take it if she tried.

Noticing distress, Allison whispered softly, no unlike one were to speak to a weak, frightened animal._ "Don't worry, soon everything will be as it should."_

Astrid held the necklace for comfort, trying to gain back the courage, ironically, the trait most have recognized her for.

_"Relax, just breath in and out."_ Allison cooed.

Though still fearful, Astrid agreed, allowing her eyes to close in order to keep her focus, and breathing deeply to steady her speeding heart-rate.

_"Clear your mind of doubt and worries."_

Allison's voice was sleek and silken, against Astrid's eardrums, her words flew gently into her brain, similar to how Hiccup had spoke with her that afternoon, allowing her to once again enter the calming state of mind Hiccup had introduced her to earlier.

_"Are you ready?"_

Astrid nodded, eyes still close. "If it means we can stop Katherine, then yes."

_"Repeat after me._" Allison started. _"The many suns and moons that have past through."_

"The many suns and moons that have past through" Astrid repeated.

**"A single body And souls of two"**

Astrid obeyed and began repeating the remaining lines of the spell.

**"One with breath and living heart"**

**"One who life been broken part"**

By this time, small rays of blue light began to fill in the gaps left inside the lines on the ring.

**"With my breath and heart that beats"**

**"I raise this soul from defeat"**

A soft humming sound started to develop and now blocked Astrid's ears from the rest of her surroundings.

**"By witness of moon and every star"**

**"By sun who light spread afar"**

Astrid could feel her heart-beat slowing down, her pulse was becoming faint, and her breaths shortening with every word she chanted.

**"Allow this broken soul to control at last"**

**"As reflected in this looking glass."**

_"You need to say your last words with force and power."_ Allison said excitedly. _"So mote it be."_

"So mote it-" There came only a second a hesitation, before ** "_BE!_"** Astrid yelled.

A burst of light came out of the ring's lines and absorbed the room, forcing Astrid to cover her eyes, a wave of jarring energy shook the ground, pulsing into her veins, making the blonde drop to the floor. The pain was incredible, burning her insides and tearing at her heart with no mercy,

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

Astrid screamed in agonizing pain.

_"YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS."_

Allison shouted in victory.

This was it, she was about to die.

This was it, she was about to be free.

She only wished she could have said good-bye to her family and friends before she had to go.

She only wished she would have done this sooner.

"The gods now punish me."

_"The gods have blessed me."_

Their thoughts so different, yet the exact same three words played aloud in each mind.

"I deserve this."

**(Cliffhanger's don't you love them. I promise I won't be as long next time, in fact, I'm already writing the next chapter. So tell me readers, what do you think happened? Comment please, it gives me drive. With that said, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off. . . .but not as long as last time.)**


	15. Chapter 15: Evil Blooms

**(Told you I wouldn't be long next time, but now I got to work on updates for "A Berk Family" and "To The Future", check those out if you want. Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS, and I hope to see more after this one. Now On With The Show)**

Astrid groaned, her head was groggy, her eyes were blurry, and her limbs felt too heavy to carry. Reluctantly, she picked herself up and allowed her eyes and head to gain back focus.

"Allison. . .did the spell work." She mumbled. "Allison did the-"

She paused, her thoughts had cleared, her body now became alert at her environment. Surrounding her were close, narrow, black and gray fogged walls, little light shown out, having her to squint in order to see anything. The confining room was cold, spreading chills across her arms and legs and the gray floor felt hard under her feet.

"Where am I?" Her voice came out shaky, making her mentally cursed herself.

"**Exactly** where you belong."

Astrid's body stiffened by the foreign sound, and she turned herself around to the source of the voice. Astrid felt her heart drop, then and there. Now she knew where the little light was coming from. Katherine's lair! She was facing a fourth wall, a mirror. Looking straight back at her was her own reflection. . . except _not_ her reflection.

This Astrid before her had her arms crossed and an all too pleased grin on her face, amused by her double's confusion. Astrid herself tried containing the lump building in her throat, there was no mistaking, the hair, the clothes, the everything! This. Was. Her.

The reflection chuckled. "Oh would you just look at yourself, so confused, so lost", she spoke with mockery.

Astrid would have screamed if the lump in her throat, and the knot in her stomach would return her voice.

"Y. .you. . .you're a reflection, how can you talk on your own?" Astrid stuttered with the few words that could escape her lips.

The double rolled her eyes, giving a giggle in amusement. "Are you quite sure _I'm_ the reflection?"

The answer hit with merciless force. Now Astrid understood where she was.

She was inside the mirror!

* * *

><p>The doppelganger examined her body, raising her arms slowly up and down, trying to relearn how to control the physical body parts.<p>

"You know this body is going to take some time getting used to, but I'm sure I'll manage." She smiled sweetly.

"Allison what's going on?!" Astrid demanded. "Let me out of here!"

The girl on the other side of the mirror merely chuckled. "Oh now _why_ would I do that?"

Astrid blinked, shocked and aggravated with her double. "You vile, despicable, little-

"To be fair I did warn you." She said, cutting Astrid off, she leaned closer on her side of the mirror to Astrid. "I told you not to underestimate me."

Astrid's eyes widened, the memory of the first time she heard those words, echoed in her mind.

"Katherine?" She breathed.

The other-Astrid clapped her hands in an excited fashion. "Good job sweetie you finally figured it out," she mocked, putting her hands on her hips. "And all by yourself too."

"No." Astrid dejected, her head shook slowly, begging inside for it not to be true. "No it can't be."

"Can't it." Katherine sneered.

"Then everything that happened, me finding the locket, giving Hiccup the potion, and finally this spell-"

"All part of my plan." The spirit congratulated herself. "My sister really should have been more careful when it came to giving out such valuable information like that", she chuckled. "You never know who is listening."

"You tricked me." Astrid accused, her eyes burning with blue fury.

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "You went to a dusty old piece of jewelry for advice, and you're going to blame me for your problems?"

Astrid was at a loss for words. How could she have been so blind, so gullible. This whole time, Astrid thought she was the one in control, but the truth was, Katherine knew all along, _Katherine_ had it all planned out, _Katherine_ had been pulling the reins, **_she_** was the one in control. With humiliation, all there was, was several minutes of silence befalling them.

When it was clear Astrid wasn't going to talk, Katherine decided to end it."Well I got to go." She took the engagement ring out of Astrid's pocket and put it on, admiring her reflection in it, "I have a fiance to get back to."

Astrid clenched her teeth, "touch him and I'll-

"You'll what!?" Katherine demanded. "Woah, deja vu." She exclaimed. "Only _this_ time-" She flashed Astrid a grin. "The game has changed."

"What are going to do to him?" Astrid asked warily.

Silence.

"TELL ME!" Astrid demanded.

Katherine gave a look of amusement, as though the question asked to her was from a small child looking for a piece of candy that can be seen sticking out of their pocket.

"Well, now that's between me and-

Pausing in mid-sentence, her satisfied smile deepened into a sinister curve, she raised her hand up for Astrid to see as it's blue glimmer returned to it.

"-my reflection."

Astrid's features pulled up to form the terror filling inside her, in full understanding on what Katherine was about to do.

"No." She croaked. "Please, no, no no no, PLEASE NO PLEASE !".

Her begging showed no mercy from Katherine, who shrugged her now human shoulders in indifference to her enemy's pleas as her hand grew bright. Swiping her entire arm down with one quick motion, the mirror image started to change.

Shimmering blue light descended down the mirror, and the current image was quickly covered by a new one.

Katherine's eyes lit up, all there was on her side. . . was her reflection.

* * *

><p>"No." Astrid whispered in disbelief. The light of the catacomb she could once see on the other side was now gone, leaving her looking at nothing but a dark wall.<p>

"NO!" She screamed, refusing to surrender. The black wall became her punching bag. Hitting it over and over again, putting total force and energy into each blow. Yet, all it did was retract small bits of light back out, that immediately dissolved into her shadowy prison.

Seeing no effect, Astrid narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth. "Let. Me. OUT!" The blonde forced her entire body onto the wall, pounding all her strength into cracking, breaking, shattering, or anything amounting to damage and freedom.

Nothing, nothing but small bursts of light that quickly transpired back into her jailing.

Astrid waited for minutes, maybe hours, she couldn't really tell, palms put against the wall, she listened for. . .

. . .a voice,

. . .a whisper,

any sign of life that still lurked in her room.

But there was none.

Katherine had left. Astrid closed her eyes in defeat, turning her form around back-side against the wall. She had been beaten, and granted her knees permission to bend her body to slide down the wall, finally having her head meet her knees.

Humiliated. Cheated. Ruined.

Katherine played her, allowing her to open up her hope and trust. Only for it to be crushed and broken, leaving Astrid to pick up the pieces and impossibly try to fix the unfixable.

Now in despair, Astrid allowed herself to do something she had promised, trained, and forced herself never to do. Something she can only remember doing two times in as far as her memory could take her.

She cried.

* * *

><p>Katherine waited, standing at the mirror, ,admiring her new control over the body, bending her arms and legs slightly so that her soul could grow accustomed to it's new inhabitants. Small fragments of light flashing on the looking glass, and the muffled sound of screams, told her what Astrid was trying to do. Yet she remained quiet, leading Astrid to believe she left. Besides, there was no need for worry, this mirror had been enchanted, and now specifically designed to entrap souls. On the outside, it looked like any other mirror, but on the inside, it was unbreakable.<p>

"Hmmm." Katherine gave a low hum, not wanting Astrid to hear her. She tapped her dainty new finger on her chin, looking curiously at her new body.

_"You'd think it'd kill her to put some effort in her appearance for once."_ Katherine thought, observing Astrid's dirt stained clothes, messy braid and iron studded skirt. She carefully touched her belt. _"Skulls? Really!?_ She thought. Yet she didn't mess with anything, she knew that keeping a low profile was key. . .at least for now.

The flashes of light still appearing randomly across the mirror's body told her Astrid was still far from done with her useless attempts of escape. _"Persistent and Stubborn."_ Katherine thought. She broke away from her reflection and looked around the lair. She smiled, finding once again a sense of home and nostalgia within her work room. Her eyes glanced over to her table of potions, she needed to get back, the sun would be rising soon, and she needed to be in Astrid's house before then, luckily _'Allison'_, (Katherine couldn't help but mentally giggle at the memory) had made a mental note on where Astrid had taken her, including her house.

But there was one thing to take care of first.

Looking down, she took a deep breath. _"Alright then, just one foot in front of the other and repeat."_ Katherine mentally instructed herself. Her first steps moving were wobbly and jagged, luckily though, Astrid's legs were strong, and flexible, giving Katherine the sense that she probably did much outdoor activity, and allowed easier controlling of them.

She approached, (though not smoothly or gracefully) her work table, the only pink vial sat a distance away from the other colors, could easily be forgotten, in fact she only just then remembered it when Astrid first visited her lair.

She quickly grabbed it and headed towards the entrance and up the staircase. Closing the door, and reaching the top, Katherine twisted her hand in a circular motion, with deep breath of relief, seeing her hand had grown bright blue.

In fact, even _brighter_ than before, and with much less of effort needed.

Katherine grinned baring the magic through the tree's hidden passage, forcing it to gain her entry to the outside.

Now with her spirit in control of two life-forces, one which she was now residing in, her power was greater, and now could only grow stronger.

Speaking of which. . . .

Katherine took the bright pink vial out of her pocket, and traced a glowing blue finger across the glass. The liquid shimmered, and in seconds became the same color as her magic. Pleased, she opened the cork and poured the potion around the tree.

Instantly the ground where the liquid had touched began to shift and changed. Vines started sprouting with light blue blossoms covering them, they grew around her, the blue bulbs opening up their flowers for the sorceress. She grinned, her hands brightening as the vines grew thicker and the blossoms grew larger.

Giving her magic a rest, Katherine knelled down and plucked off a bloom, holding it to her face. The petals were soft, they shimmered and sparkled, as though they were made of stardust. Holding it to her face she sniffed it and smiled. They had the fragrance of sweet lavender.

"As my magic grows, so do you." She whispered.

The girl began grabbing and picking up as many blossoms as she could carry, stuffing some into her pockets, using vines to tie some to her belt and hair, and stuffing her arms full of them. One could say she picked half the bushel if it wasn't for the fact that every bloom she picked, it's spot would immediately be filled with three more grown in it's place.

Looking up, the sky was now bright pink and orange, she grimaced. Her hands and body now full with flowers, Katherine headed towards Astrid's house.

There was still much work needed to be done.

**(So wait, Allison was Katherine! Okay, maybe that wasn't the best twist, but it's not the end of the world if it was. Now Astrid is trapped and Katherine is in control! What's going to happen? What are those flowers for? What's Katherine's next move? Tell me what you think in the comments. Seriously TELL ME! I LOVE hearing from you guys, your theories, your guesses, or just regular comments in general. Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off.)**


	16. Chapter 16:Wedding Announcement

**(I did such a STUPID thing. My friend came by and took me on a shopping trip yesterday, (She loves the after-holiday discounts) and by the time I got home last night, finished off a little chapter editing, I was exhausted. Apparently so much so that I clicked on the 'save document' button, and "thought" that I clicked on the 'publish chapter' button and went to sleep 'thinking' this fic had been updated. It wasn't until now when I realized my mistake.)**

**(Okay, so while I was writing the next chapter, I was thinking. . . .wait, why have two separate chapters that both are about half the size of a normal chapter, when I could just put the two together and make a full sized chapter out of it? So if you already have read the first part of the chapter, you can just scroll down and find the new part of it if you want.)**

Katherine crept carefully into the village of Berk, none of the houses had smoke coming out of their chimneys, signifying that the people were still asleep. The sorceress walked silently across the sleeping village, in a few hours would be full of life, but right now, all was silent. The only sound came from her faint foot-steps across the dirt road, and the occasional growl or whimper from the few dragons that were awake at this early hour. She couldn't help but smile, even the few who growled at her, none would even dare approach her as long as she continued to walk past their masters houses.

Reaching the Hofferson house-hold, the enchantress was able to slip in and up the stairs to Astrid's room. Reaching the young girl's bedroom, Katherine immediately emptied herself of the flowers and raided the draws for something to tye them together, eventually finding some (ironically blue) ribbon, perhaps used once used for decoration or maybe a dress. Of course Katherine couldn't really care less, she had much more pressing matters to deal with.

"But I'm going to need a little help." She whispered to herself.

Twirling her hand out, a wisp of blue light formed up onto her palm. Taking her other hand, she carefully began to caress the magic wisp softly, leaning her head down, she whispered the name of the one she wished to see.

Putting her head back up a misty image formed. Hiccup was lying on his bed asleep, other than him, the room was empty. Katherine smirked, perhaps his _loyal dragon_ thought to stand guard outside the house.

_Oh yeah, that'll scare me off._ She thought.

Leaning back down, keeping her voice low, in order to keep the family from awakening, the puppeteer began to pull her puppet's strings.

"Hiccup." She purred.

She could see her dear Hiccup stir in his sleep.

"Hiccup!" She spoke clearer, tightening her hold.

Inside the wispy image, Hiccup's eyes swiftly opened, his movements practically robotic as he sat up, and stood back up on his feet, standing up beside the bed.

Katherine smiled lovingly at the image. "Now listen carefully my dear, **_this_** is important."

* * *

><p>"Now Hiccup, exactly what is it you need to tell me?" Stoick asked, now starting to become aggravated with his son's vague request to have them go to the Great Hall right after everyone had left breakfast, apparently with some incredibly important news to tell.<p>

"You will see soon." Hiccup answered hollowly.

Stoick raised an eyebrow. "Uh Hiccup. . .are you feeling alright?" Lately his son had been acting strangely, from the moment he woke up yesterday morning after the 'cove incident'. He had become much more distant lately, even ending up flat-out ignoring Toothless. His usual chatter-box of a son now barely spoke, and even when he did, everything Hiccup said was always so vague and sounded hollow and empty, lacking of any emotion or feeling. Except of course if Stoick pressured the subject, then his kind-hearted son turned vile and hateful. His behavior was beginning to scare him. A memory of yesterday came to mind.

_Stoick had just got back from inspecting the latest catch of fish, making sure the portion the dragons needed and what the citizens kept matched up, when the sound of wings caught his eardrums. Looking up, the chief could see the usual gang of teenagers of their dragons, no doubt having some sort of race, but that wasn't what caught his attention._

_What caught his attention was the absence of a ebony scaled dragon in the sky._

_Curious, yet not too worried, the man called up Gobber, asking him where Hiccup was._

_Gobber tilted his head in bewilderment. "He told us you assigned him to go to the Meathead Tribe with a dragon treaty."_

_Confused, but most importantly concerned, Stoick took his leave to his house, hoping his son would be there._

_"Hiccup?" Stoick called out, walking up the stairs to his son's bedroom._

_Opening the door, he found relief, to see his only son at his desk, his eyes wide and his arms covering over something on the table._

_"Hiccup, what are you doing here, shouldn't you be at the dragon academy?" Stoick questioned. Why would Hiccup of all people not be at the academy?_

_Hiccup's shocked expression, immediately melted into one of calmness. The boy shrugged. "After my. . .unfortunate visit to the cove yesterday, I fear my body just isn't strong enough."_

_Stoick raised an eyebrow. "You were just at breakfast."_

_Hiccup frowned. "Sitting down to eat, and flying around on a fire-breathing reptile are two entirely different things, don't you think?"_

_"I. . .suppose?" The chief answered, surprised by his son's out-of-character tone of voice. "But what is this I hear about 'me assigning you to go to the Meathead Tribe'?"_

_Hiccup shrugged again. "I didn't want anyone to worry about me, so I made the excuse." He spoke bluntly, yet his tone was definitely becoming sharper._

_Stoick nodded. "Eh. . .Hiccup, are you feeling alright?"_

_The teen rolled his eyes. "Well I **did** almost drown yesterday." His sarcasm, it wasn't the usual dry humor, but now cold and mocking._

_Not exactly sure how to respond to this new persona in his son, Stoick just nodded. "Alright then." His eyes drifted to the paper Hiccup's arms still covered. "What do you have there?"_

_Immediately, he could see Hiccup's shoulders tensed, as he tried to cover the paper any further with his body._

_"Nothing." Hiccup spat._

_"Hiccup?" Stoick asked. "Is something wron-_

_"Don't you have a job to do for the village or something?" Hiccup said cruelly._

_The Chief took a step back, did Hiccup just. . . . Stoick narrowed his eyes, now just about ready to scream at his son, and demand to know what in Odin's name happened to him. How dare he disrespect him that way! Yet for some reason, the words never came out, he said nothing, the act would probably make things worse if he tried._

_Without another word, Stoick nodded silently, and exited out of the room, leaving his son in solitude._

"Oh good you made it."

Stoick felt himself be pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a young female. 'Astrid' stood at the entrance to the Great Hall, she smiled brightly, reaching her hand out, Hiccup immediately took it, and now stood right next to her.

"Wouldn't miss this for the world." Hiccup commented kindly.

The two teenagers gave the chief no time to question why Astrid was there, before the two pushed open the Hall's great wooden doors, entering and gesturing Stoick to follow.

Stoick looked around the building, it felt strange being inside the Great Hall when it was empty, yet not necessarily a bad change. In fact the quite solitude it seemed to give felt like a welcomed change of pace from the usual sounds of banter and bickering he usually received when he entered the building.

"Chief?"

Stoick turned to a nearby table Hiccup and 'Astrid' were seating themselves at. Right across from the children were two more unexpected guests. Mr and Mrs Hofferson.

Stoick blinked back puzzled. "Hiccup, why exactly have you and Astrid brought us here?" The chief asked, taking a seat beside the two parents sharing his confusion, across the couple. In truth, seeing the Hofferson family had come to talk as well, worried him, he hoped this didn't have anything to do with what happened at the cove the other day, the quicker that memory was forgotten the better.

Mrs Hofferson glanced at her daughter. "I was just about to ask the same question."

The blonde teenager gave a soft giggle, pouring out three mugs of a strange pink liquid from a bottle and rearranging the vase of blue flowers, both of which Stoick just now noticed had been placed onto the table. "Well-" She placed her hand over Hiccup's, making sure the ring on her finger could be seen by the adults, "we have something we need to tell you."

* * *

><p>Katherine tapped her fingers on the table anxiously. This was taking <span><em>forever<em>. Yes, she understood the rituals and traditions that came into the contract, yes, she knew it took time.

In fact. . . the Seiðr couldn't help but smile in remembrance of the first time she went through a marriage meeting. Just like now, droning out the adults voices, and just praying to the gods to wrap it up. Katherine never had been a patient one. _"Hamish knew that."_ She thought to herself.

_"Probably the reason he had been so nervous about the proposal, Odin knows he_. . ._NO"_ she mentally shouted. _"Keep those thoughts under the surface."_

As the adults conversation continued, the sorceress had half a mind to excuse Hiccup and herself while they handled the marriage details. But she forced herself to stay. Her influence would quickly fade if she kept too far a distance, the parents would clear the fogginess from their heads, ask her what in Asgard they were doing, and all would be ruined. So here she was, stuck.

By the time Stoick and the Hoffersons had finally released the girl from her misery, the sky had returned to it's faded pinks and burnt orange hues, signifying that it'd soon be supper time.

* * *

><p>"Where were you two all day?"<p>

'Astrid' glanced up from her food at Ruffnut. She shrugged her shoulders. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Come on Ash, don't play dumb with me, you two have been acting weird all week!"

"Yeah." Snotlout said in agreements. "And we're going to find out anyway so you might as well just-

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" A loud booming voice cut off Snotlout's interrogation. All ears caught it and all eyes landed onto the chief, standing at the front of the Hall, apparently with news to tell.

"People of Berk-"

A low growling cut him off.

"_And_ dragons." He added before continuing. "Tonight, I don't believe I have ever been more pleased", he glanced over at Hiccup, "or more _proud_ as to what I'm about to say."

"What going on?" Fishlegs whispered, only to earn three _"shhh's"_ from the table demanding his silence.

"Therefore it is my greatest pleasure on this faithful night, to announce my son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third's _betrothal_!"

The sound of dramatized gasps and unnecessarily loud whispers filled the room. _"Is this true?" "Awful sudden isn't it?" "I didn't know the boy was even in a courtship." "Do you think their joking?" "Who's the bride?" _All eyes were on Hiccup as he walked up to the front beside his father, oblivious to the curious stares and questionable glances of the public.

The father beamed proudly at his son, clearing his throat, he signaled the silence of the villagers so that he may continue. "On this Freya's day, my son shall wed the maiden. . ._Astrid Hofferson."_

That was her cue. Leaving the other teens open-mouthed, gaping like fish flopping on land with hooks still in their jaws, 'Astrid' walked up from the table. She smiled brightly, anyone in her path immediately took a good many steps back. Reaching the front, 'Astrid held her hand out for Hiccup to take, delicately, he returned the gesture, pressing a soft kiss onto the wrist in gentlemen fashion.

But that smile soon vanished when she turned her head up to face the crowd. Now she could see the faces of the entire village. And now she realized. These were faces of people she did not know, people who Astrid _did_ know, and knew her. People who had suspicion and doubt painted withing their features. Even the ones who forced themselves to smile, their eyes shared in the dubious and unsureness of everyone else.

'Astrid' gulped, apparently things _have_ changed over the years, at least according to how everyone was looking at her right now. Back in her time, this announcement would have enacted joyous cheers, not awkward, tense silence.

Even turning to the Hoffersons and Stoick, the only reason they were on her side at the moment, was because she forced herself into staying and keeping them under the influence for so long, and even still, her little spell wouldn't last forever, she wasn't that powerful yet, and after a few hours away from her magic, they too would be questionable.

_"Maybe this isn't going to be as easy as I originally imagined." _She thought.

It wasn't until the feeling of someone squeezing her hand, that allowed her to escape these dreadful thoughts. Turning to her right, she could see Hiccup had tightened both his fists, one of which was beginning to make her hand feel numb. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and the remaining parts of his face were scrunched up stiff.

"Hiccup?" She whispered, taking her free hand, she gently stroked his arm, ignoring the few remaining shushes and whispers that came from such a gesture. "Hiccup, is everything alright?" She asked.

Thankfully, within a few more moments, his eyes opened back up and his body became more relaxed. He turned and smiled at her. "Never been better."

His warm smile made her worries airy in her chest and the doubt begin to deteriorating. In the light she could see the curious blue glow that seemed to center around the pupil of his eye.

'Astrid' returned the gesture, scooting herself closer to her fiance. Just like with Astrid, and just like with Hiccup-

-any problem could be resolved.

* * *

><p>Late in the night, on the roof of the Hofferson house-hold, Katherine stood, though not strait or proudly, but hunched over, trying to keep from collapsing. Locks of her now-blonde hair were coated with sweat and were now sticking to her back, her breaths were heavy and her head was pounding, this new human body screamed for rest.<p>

The palms of her hands shimmered with blinding blue light, brighter than it had ever been since her return, inside them were glittering blue rose petals.

"This. . .better be. . .worth it." Her voice shaked in between dense gasps of breath. In mind-set, the plan was fool-proof, now that she had time to think over the details of it, but this spell was complicated, even now her body felt ready to drop on the roof shingles.

Katherine put her mouth closer to her hands. She muttered the language in tongues under her breath. The light inside her hands shined brighter as she spoke, and within moments a strong wind began to pick up around her.

"Let the power from my hands-"

The cold breeze made Katherine shiver, cutting her off, the limitations of a mortal vessel seriously annoyed her. _"But no success was made without sacrifice"_ she thought to herself, trying to ignore it as she continued her work.

"Make the changes I demand." She spoke.

The sorceress opened her palms out flat, allowing her charms to escape her and into the village of Berk. The winds blowing made the petals twirl around the landscape, having each petal land across a household.

"As they sleep with doubt tonight-"

As each foliole landed, the ground they would touch developed the same glittering blue exterior.

She grinned through the exhaustion as the island of Berk itself began to be touched by her enchantments. "Let my magic consume them by morning's light."

**(Now that Katherine is getting better grasp of what she's getting herself into, what will be her next move? And why did Hiccup act like he was in pain for a second there? Tell me what you think in the reviews) **

**(Next one out on Monday, and hopefully will have more going on in it, I actually want to make the rest of the gang more active in this. With nothing left to say, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	17. Chapter 17: Suspicion Will Rise

**(Welcome back. To be honest, I had a bit of trouble with this chapter, there's not much going on supernatural wise, yet ironically it is a fairly important chapter in the story. Overall, there's not much that is going on in this one, making it a bit of a challenge to try and keep from getting boring, especially considering the character I focus the most on in this one is also a fairly difficult character to write out for _at least in my opinion_. But the next chapter will probably have more going on. So until then Chapter 17)**

***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***

**Reading back over my chapters, I've realized that I have subconsciously have given Katherine a siren song (a magical, entrancing voice), meaning that next to the flowers, her voice is one of her main sources of power, (will be explained in future chapter). In this one I've given her a song to sing (will NOT be in every chapter) which is based on the song "Elsa's Lullaby" (easily found on YouTube)**

**Now on with the show.**

What an awful night it had been. Wasting the hours, tossing and turning, shifting the blankets around on and off her body in multiple directions, only to start over again within a few minutes. Every time she tried and closed her eyes, the images of last night's meal plagued her vision. Hundreds of questions seemed to grow into her mind with every waking moment.

"Astrid and Hiccup" she mouthed. An odd pair, no doubt about that, but over the recent year or so have become closer and much more compatible. She smiled, even _she_ had teased the two about their relationship once or twice.

_"But this?"_ The girl thought. In reality, though the chemistry between Astrid and the chief's son was apparent, on the outside it wasn't entirely obvious. The two had always been so awkward when relating to more than friendship; the picture of Astrid's bright-red face whenever they brought the subject up came to mind.

_"But that's the point!"_ She thought and groaned, why, after so many flusters over it, did the couple just suddenly decide to make such a bold move? Especially at this age?! Why would they? _"Should I talk to her?"_ She mentally noted over the thought, she and Astrid had been friends forever, she could trust her.

Right?

But then again, these actions weren't like Astrid, not at all; if she tried to talk to her, who knows what would happen if-

"WAKE UP RUFF!"

The obnoxious sound of her brother's voice, and the forceful tug of her braid, leading her down onto the floor, threw Ruffnut out of her thoughts.

Picking herself up, Ruffnut readjusted her braid, and turned to face her twin. "You IDIOT!" She screamed, tackling Tuffnut down with her to the ground, forcing the two into their regular morning wrestling match. After several minutes, Ruffnut was able to position herself over her brother, twisting both his ankles in opposite directions until he cried out his defeat.

"Alright ALRIGHT, I give up." Tuffnut cried, leading his sister to release him.

"-When I'm DEAD!" He yelled, pulling himself up, and breaking out into a run, ready to run-over Ruffnut- -

- -Until Ruffnut moved out of the way, forcing him to hit the bedroom door.

"_oof. ._ Woah, head rush." He commented after the hard wood had made contact with his skull.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes, grabbing her brother's arms and forcefully pulling him up on his feet. "C'mon, we have a dragon to feed and-

"RAAAHRRHRHRH!" The piercing roar of an anguished dragon cut her off.

"Woah, sis was that you?" Tuffnut asked dumbly.

"That was our dragon!" Ruffnut said urgently, now fearful for her pet. "Come ON!" Ruffnut grabbed Tuff by his shirt collar and dragged him outside with her.

The two ran over to the side of the house, and with a breath of relief, found there dragon was fine, only agitated, as they seemed to be trying in vain to burn away the blue flowers in their yard and-. . .wait, _blue flowers_? Where'd those come from? And why wouldn't they burn?!

Looking more closely, indeed, all sparking and gassing the zippleback did, showed no change onto the blossoms. The two-headed reptile soon became desperate enough as to submit to just using their fangs to try and pull or cut the weeds off their territory.

Then the problem had become stranger; surprisingly enough, the flowers seemed fairly easy to pluck off their vine, but once they were, a new bud almost immediately began to sprout and take it's place.

Tuffnut picked up one of the flowers Barf spit out of his mouth. "Dude, that's creepy." Tuffnut commented, as small blue buds quickly became full grown, filling any gaps left behind as Barf and Belch continued to rip and spit the flowers out across the yard.

Ruffnut groaned, her patience being even lower than usual due to lack of sleep, and now lost to the tiniest piece of tolerance she had left. She wanted to go see Astrid, so she could explain (though Ruff wasn't sure how), on what _possessed_ her to do something so crazy, and finally give her friend some peace of mind.

Angry, Ruff snatched the flower out of her brother's hand and threw it back onto the ground. "This is getting us nowhere!" She exclaimed.

"What's with you?" Tuffnut said bluntly.

"Nothing!" Ruffnut snapped, turning her attention away from her twin, and towards their dragon. She had to stand on the tips of her toes in order to reach for one of the dragon heads. "Enough gardening Barf we got to go", she struggled, trying to pull at the zippleback's neck.

Both heads of the dragon stopped what they were doing and turned to their riders, both heads narrowed their eyes at the twins sharply, as if they just now noticed that the twins were even present and were now trying to decide what to do with them.

The way Barf and Belch were eyeing her right now, unsettled Ruffnut deeply. "Uh...Barf...Belch ?"

At the sound of their names, Barf and Belch went into an abrasive action, grabbing hold of each teenager, Ruffnut by the braid, and Tuffnut by his boot. And before either could react, the two-headed creature took flight, carrying the twins off.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Ruffnut yelled, looking down nervously. Within a few seconds her dragon had already taken her roughly over fifty feet off the ground.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Tuffnut shouted in joy, oblivious to the present danger they were in.

"SHUT UP IDIOT!" Ruffnut screamed at her brother, "AND BELCH YOU BETTER PUT ME DOWN OR I WILL-_oof_" She was cut off as she felt her body fall quickly onto a tree branch. Ruffnut was able to pick herself up just in time to see her brother be dropped down onto the tree with her, and their dragon turn around, flying in the other direction.

"HEY WAIT, COME BACK!" Ruffnut pleaded, only for her cries to fall flat as the zippleback continued to fly back to the village. Ruffnut slumped her shoulders in defeat and flumped back onto her tree branch. "You think they'll come back ?"

"I doubt it, I've been here all morning." Said an unknown voice.

Ruff perked her head back up. "Who said that?" She asked, turning her neck around to find the source of the voice. Did someone else get dragged up here as well.

"Down here", the voice said dead-panned.

Looking down, just a few branches away, sat Fishlegs reading a book, taking his face from the page, he looked up at her and smiled. "Good morning." Then returned to his book.

"Fishlegs?" Ruff said surprised. "How did you get here?"

The blonde shrugged his shoulders. "Same way as you, just minding my business, reading one minute, snatched and carried away by Meatlug the next. It was so strange, so unlike her..." His voice trailed off, thinking over his predicament.

Ruffnut crossed her arms. "And he hasn't came back yet?"

"_She_ hasn't _come_ back yet," Fishlegs corrected. "And no, not yet, good thing I brought this," Fishlegs smiled, waving the book in front of his face, before resuming to read.

Ruff gave a small "huff" of annoyance. "Well I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing."

Fishlegs looked up at her curiously, as she slowly tried to stand herself up on her tree branch, careful not to fall. Looking down at the ground, she gulped, the ground was many feet below, but it seemed to be the only way she was going to get out of the tree, talk to Astrid, and finally get some ease in her head.

Fishlegs raised an eyebrow. "Ruff...what are you doing?"

"Getting out of here." She snapped, bending her knees, with one big thrust she-

"RUFF WAIT!" Fishlegs cried, shutting his eyes, waiting for the cruel, hard impact of the ground. He felt his branch shake, but nothing more, after several moments, allowed his eyes to open. Looking down, he could see Ruffnut, either jumping or climbing down from one tree branch to the next, until finally reaching the ground.

"Huh" Fishlegs shrugged. "Well that wasn't so ba-..." He spoke too soon, as the sound of wood cracking came, before he knew it, Fishlegs found himself falling down out of the tree- -

- -and landing on Ruffnut.

"HEY WATCH IT!"

Fishlegs quickly shuffled off of her before he agitated her further. "Sorry" he mumbled, helping pick Ruffnut off the ground.

She shrugged him off. "Well it could have been worse, Tuff could have-

"LOOK OUT BELLOOOWW_ oof_" Tuffnut hit the ground, standing up, spitting dirt out of his mouth, he turned to face the other two. "So now what do we do?"

Ruffnut glared at him. "Well _I'm_ going to see Astrid, _you_ can get lost."

"Hey wait." Fishlegs ran up to try and block Ruffnut's path.

"What _now_?" Ruff sneered.

"You're going the wrong way, I saw Hiccup and Astrid walk past my tree to the cove a while ago," Fishlegs explained. "It looked like they were having some sort of picnic."

"A picnic huh?" Ruffnut snorted, how sappy, how mushy, how. . .so unlike Astrid! Ruff gave a small gasp, mentally adding another item to the list of her friend's strange behavior. _"What is going on with her?"_

"Alright!" Ruffnut grabbed onto Fishlegs' wrist, and began dragging him towards the forest. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>From what Ruff could remember, the cove wasn't that far a walk, though it wasn't like she had any other way to travel anyway, with her dragon gone to Thor-knows-where and having been flown too far from the village. Besides, it wasn't the walk that irritated Ruffnut.<p>

It was her company.

"Uhh Ruff, are you sure we should be out here. . .I. .agree that this marriage is kind of strange, b. . .but don't you think this is a little invading on their privacy. . .? Fishlegs mumbled.

Ruffnut groaned; she had half a mind to slap and shut him up, right then and there. What did she care about "invading on their privacy"? What did she care about whether she was being "polite" or not; she was a viking that meant she did what she wanted, and goes where she wants.

". . .and besides, I mean it's- - - oh what's this?"

Fishlegs stopped his immense chatter to bend down at his new discovery. Picking the item up, he held it close to his face and sighed, it had a pleasant smell of lavender. "I've never seen these grow before."

Ruffnut stopped dead in her tracks, quickly putting together what Fishlegs was doing; she turned her body around to see Fishlegs putting his face into the blue petals. Ruff narrowed her eyes, seizing the flower away from him, just as she did with Tuffnut that morning, and threw it on the ground.

"What is it with these stupid flowers!" She growled.

"Well. . .I think their quite nice" Fishlegs mumbled, daring to anger her further.

"Well I DON'T!" She screamed, tugging at her companion once again, now stomping her way down to the cove.

* * *

><p>"Astrid" laied blissfully at the trunk of a tree, her stomach filled with the breakfast she had packed for her and Hiccup, and the morning sun still shined over her, with the tree providing shade for her eyes. Hiccup was seated down beside her. Lazily opening her eyes 'Astrid' moved her open hand to his, clasping the two together.<p>

"Hiccup?" She asked.

Hiccup opened his eyes to the call of his name, the green in them was duller, hazer, almost a still gray, with light blue centering around the iris. "Yes?"

'Astrid' smiled. "I just want you to-" She looked over his hand locked with hers, the triqetra symbol giving off a soft light. "To tell me you love me."

"Alright." He answered dead-toned. "I love you."

"Indeed you do". 'Astrid' chuckled, squeezing his hand softly, satisfied with his answer. "Say it again."

"I lo-AAHHH!" His sentence was broke by a shrill screeched. Hiccup pulled his hand away from her's to clench his head, 'Katherine sat up straight in shock, seeing as Hiccup began to claw at his scalp and tear at his hair. "W. .where. . .what is happening?" Hiccup said, his voice jumping and now only a shady whisper.

Katherine crawled over and positioned herself behind him. "Shh, shhh, you must be confused" she said. Hiccup could feel her cold breath on his ear as she spoke, her arms already trying to pry his from his head, and wrapping them around his torso.

"Would you like me to sing to you dear?"

"Hpmth" he groaned out the little sounds his voice would provide him with at the moment. Hiccup's brain felt as though it was filling up with water and spinning at one-hundred miles an hour. A feminine voice echoed inside his skull, and his body began to feel numb once again, whatever was happening, it seemed to be lowering the pain.

But it didn't feel _**right**_ somehow.

_"Listen to me dear"_

_"There's nothing here to fear"_

'Astrid' began to sing, hugging tighter onto Hiccup.

_"You are close to me"_

_"And that was meant to be"_

Hiccup gave a small whimper as a response; tightening his hands into fists, allowing his nails to dig into his palms.

_"It won't hurt you here"_

_"The storm's becoming clear"_

_"The cold you feel inside"_

_"You have no need to hide"_

Her voice was light, her embrace felt cold, and yet it still made the pounding in Hiccup's head to ease. Hiccup felt his breaths become calmer as her voice became higher and stronger.

_"My dear, I will protect you"_

_"I am right beside of you"_

_"You will be safe and sound"_

_"There won't be harm around"_

Katherine released her grip as Hiccup found himself holding on to her, his eyes becoming heaver.

_"No need to have fear"_

_"For am with you my dear"_

_"I am a part of you"_

She lowered her head, so that her face could meet his as she sang to a lower note, her lullaby now coming to a close.

_"It's just us two"_

_"Remember I love you"_

By now Hiccup had been lulled asleep, allowing her to give him a sweet brush of a kiss against his lips.

_"Now and forever"_

* * *

><p>Ruffnut had to bite her tongue to keep herself from shouting when Astrid asked Hiccup to say he loved her. The scene was so odd, so <em>bizarre<em>, it just didn't look right. And as she continued to watch them, it only got stranger; first Hiccup just starting flipping out as if he got a dragon-fire ball to the head, then the next Astrid grabs him and starts singing.

_"I never even knew she could sing"_ Ruffnut thought, but it looked like she could, her voice was _beautiful_! But. . .when she sang. . .Ruffnut couldn't explain it, it was like the voice didn't match up to the body; when Astrid started singing, it was like she turned into a completely different person. None of her movement, her actions, even her voice when she sang, **none** of it felt like Astrid.

Ruffnut looked behind her where Fishlegs was; luckily Tuffnut didn't follow them, as he was probably still trying to find a way back to village; but Fishlegs had been surprisingly quiet.

Turning her head, her eyes widened and she gave a small squeak of a gasp. Fishlegs looked like a zombie detached from reality; his eyes were closed, his body swaying back in forth in a constant rhythm, and the only sound Ruff could hear him make was soft humming to 'Astrid's' lullaby.

The sight made Ruff move a few paces back, slightly disturbed by her companion. Shuffling her feet back, she kept her eyes glued on Fishlegs, until-

*SNAP*

Ruffnut felt she moved too far back, accidentally snapping a twig in two.

Fearing the couple heard her, Ruffnut quickly scrambled away from her hiding place in the bushes; alarms ringing and instincts taking over, she grabbed at a still dazed Fishlegs and ran.

Past the trees, and across the hills, her heart-beats strengthening and breaths shortening, all she knew was to run. Ruffnut wasn't sure how long she had been running until she finally had to stop; trudging past the trees and having to drag Fishlegs with her, in minutes had left her exhausted and ready to collapse.

"I...think...we lost her..." Ruffnut said in-between breaths.

"Lost who?"

Ruffnut turned her head to see her brother staring blankly at her. "You okay sis, you look like you just got chewed up and spit out by a gronkle."

Ruffnut scowled. "You know...if I had the...energy...I would slap you...so hard" she breathed.

"Are you alright dear?" A new voice said, entering the area.

The sound made Ruffnut's blood turn cold, standing up, now able to see properly, she could see 'Astrid' a mere three feet away from her. Ruffnut bit her bottom lip. Did she know? Did she see her? 'Astrid's' voice was calm, her eyes appeared those of one with complete innocence. She looked different as well, her hair now draped over her shoulders and down to her waist, she now wore a light blue dress hitting down to her knees whilst a pair of gray leggings covered the rest, looking closely, Ruff could see small hints of color on her mouth and eyes. However, nothing about this suggested she had any knowledge or suspicion about Ruff's intervention on her privacy.

_"How did she get here so fast?"_ Ruffnut thought; unlike herself, 'Astrid' wasn't tired or exhausted, or even covered in sweat, she didn't look like she just finished running half-way across a forest; she looked as though she just _appeared_ out of no-where.

"What brings you to this part of the island dear?" 'Astrid' asked.

Ruffnut gulped. Was she suspicious? Was she just playing dumb now? Of course she dared not breath a word of that to her. "Oh you know. . ." Ruffnut droned. "Just walking around."

'Astrid' gave a sweet smile, approaching her 'friend'. "Well you better be careful" She said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You never know what could happen in a thick forest like this."

Ruffnut raised an eyebrow. "Yeah...sure." She said; however, almost immediately as she did, the thick smell of lavender blanketed over her, making her cough and shuffle away from the other female. "Ugh!" She gagged. "What is that smell?"

'Astrid' gave a sharp gasp, flinching and taking a step back from Ruffnut. "Excuse me?" She asked.

"Can't you smell it?" Ruffnut asked curiously, covering her mouth and nose with her hand.

"Yeah!" Tuffnut nodded in agreement. "It smells like someone dumped a dragon load of girly perfume on me, smells even worse than Ruff."

'Astrid' gave a soft "oh" sound, trying to hide her shocked reaction. Bending down, she picked up one of the blue flowers that now seemed to blanket most of the wood's surface. "Must be the flowers." She replied nonchalantly, pushing it in Ruff's direction. "Pretty though aren't they?"

"Mmhhh." Fishlegs mumbled, already having another one held up to his face. "They sure are."

Ruffnut made a face at the vegetation, pushing it out of her way. "They freak me out! Where did they come from anyway?"

"Did some freak plant monster come out late at night?!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "Because that would be awesome!"

'Astrid' stared at the twins, then turned to look at Fishlegs, then back at the twins; her face was unreadable, in fact it was several minutes before she even spoke.

"Well. . ." she said finally. "I better get back to the cove, before I worry my fiance."

_"So she does now I was there!"_ Ruffnut thought to herself. _"Yet she hasn't said or done anything; what's your game Hofferson?"_

"Hey wait!" Ruffnut called out.

'Astrid' stopped and turned her head back to Ruffnut. "Yes?"

"I actually-" Ruffnut paused, realization hit her. She had been so focused on talking to Astrid, she didn't even think on what she was going to say. Astrid was known for having a temper, and for not having mercy on those she decided to take her anger out on; she couldn't just walk up to her and say _"hey, I think you shouldn't get married, even though it's not like I even have a say in the matter"_, that'd get her nothing but a good punch in the jaw.

"I actually. . .was wanting to ask you about that?". _"Okay, nothing too offensive that Astrid might want to slice my head open with a ax"_ Ruffnut thought.

"Yeah, like why you're marrying Hiccup, dude, even we aren't that crazy." Tuffnut added.

Ruffnut gave in a shrill breath. _"Nice going Tuff, good-bye life, we had a good run."_ After that 'little' display of affection she gave Hiccup earlier, Ruffnut was most certain, Astrid would be ready to pound the two into a pulp.

Only she didn't.

Instead she cocked her head to the side, giving off a small smirk of amusement. "Oh I wouldn't go that far." She chuckled, breathing in the scent of the flower in her hand. "How about another opinion." 'Astrid' turned to a still hazed off Fishlegs. "What do you think about the wedding?"

Fishlegs shrugged, barely looking up to her. "Seems fine to me" he breathed.

Ruffnut's eyebrows raised up. "But didn't you say this morning that-

"I apologize for calling it short, though I really must get going." 'Astrid' cut her off. "But I will be discussing further wedding plans this afternoon, we can talk then, deal?"

Tuffnut scratched his chin. "Depends...will there be food?"

'Astrid' chuckled. "I believe I can see to that." She looked over at a confused Ruffnut, with a mischievous glimmer in her eye. "I look forward to seeing you there, good-bye for now." With that 'Astrid' turned heel, leaving the three teenagers alone in the forest.

Once sure she was gone, Ruffnut turned to her brother. "Did she seem _off_ to either of you?"

Tuffnut tapped his finger on his chin. "Hmmm, you mean besides the new clothes, hairstyle, speech pattern, and overall personality. . .nope, seemed normal to me."

Fishlegs shrugged. "She seemed fine to me."

"I don't know." Ruffnut said unsure.

Tuffnut rolled his eyes. "You know sis, you worry to much, besides, you get to talk to her later, now come on, before the Great Hall runs out of mutton."

Seeing as neither male seemed concerned over the fact, Ruffnut allowed herself to trail behind them, out of the forest.

_"But I know something's wrong."_ Ruffnut thought; looking down, she gave one last distrusting glance at the odd, heat-resistant, fast-growing, sweet-scented, blue flowers.

_"And I'm going to find out what it is."_

**(I hope Ruff didn't seem too OOC, I did say I wanted to bring the others into this more. So does anyone wonder why Ruff doesn't seem affected by Katherine's magic? Or when/if she'll figure out the truth? Find out more tomorrow with Chapter 18. Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	18. Chapter 18: Planning

**(SO SORRY! I know I told you yesterday would be the update, but I fell asleep last night and thought I updated. Anyway, though not much goes on in this one, I intended to make this one longer, but I ran out of space, trying to keep this under 4,000 words a chapter. Next one will definitely have a LOT more going on)**

**(PS: Sorry if it seems a little rushed at the end, when I found out I was late, I wanted to get this to you as soon as possible)**

**(With that said, On With The Show)**

* * *

><p>The high-pitched sounds of the chirping birds annoyed Ruffnut to no end. She never really did like birds to begin with; their chirping had always pestered her, ever since she was a little girl. However at the moment, the birds didn't just annoy her, they also seemed to be mocking her.<p>

Her little confrontation with Astrid still left shivers in her spine; and the choking hold of lavender, though fainter, was still burning in her throat. Obviously talking to Astrid wasn't going to get her anywhere; all Astrid did was float around the subject, until finally and completely cutting her off. It was so aggravating!

_"But what if I talk to Hiccup?"_ Ruffnut thought it over; from the little she saw or even knew of the boy, Ruff couldn't really make much of an assumption over any abnormal changes in Hiccup; other than his sudden tantrum and Astrid trying to calm him down, there wasn't much she could say for him. Besides, from the two of them, he seemed to be the most approachable at least.

_ "But could I even be able to get him alone? And if so, how?"_ From their scene back at the cove, and after talking with her directly, it was clear to Ruff that if she tried to talk with Hiccup, Astrid would surely intervene. There didn't seem to be anyway around it. _"Well what if I got Tuff to- ugh, no that'd never work, he has the brain of a fireworm, and a attention span even smaller."_ Ruffnut looked over her brother from behind; brushing off the idea as she walked with him and Fishlegs up to the Great Hall. _"I need someone smarter; but not too smart, to ask too many questions like Fishlegs. . ."_ Ruff pondered over it._ "I need someone like. . .someone like. . .um"_

"HEY FISHLEGS!"

Ruffnut paused her thoughts to turn around for whoever cried out. Snotlout stomped over to the group in a fit of rage. "You better fix this!" he said, poking a finger at Fishlegs's chest.

_"That could work."_ Ruffnut mentally said cheerfully.

Fishlegs merely sighed and ignored Snotlout's threat, attempting to continue on to the Great Hall. Ruffnut chuckled as Snotlout's face grew redder with Fishlegs response and slapped the entrancing blue flower out of his hands.

"Hey!" Fishlegs reacted as the drugging plant was no longer in his grasp.

"Oh don't be such a wimp." Snotlout insulted. "And get your crazy plants off my yard!"

"I don't know what your talking about!" Fishlegs revolted. "And even if I did, my intellectual talent is far too high to create a little childish prank!" he snapped.

Snotlout grumbled. "Don't play dumb with me! I leave for the night, come back in the morning, and there's a bunch of freakish flowers all around my house; and you think I wouldn't figure out it was you?"

"I. Didn't. Do. It" Fishlegs argued.

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Oh sure, likely story."

"It's the TRUTH." Fishlegs yelled, trying to walk again, only for Snotlout to keep blocking his way.

"Look Fish-for-brain" Snotlout growled. "You better get rid of them, I don't want some fru-fru flowers girlying up my house!"

Fishlegs raised an eyebrow. "And why can't _you_ get rid of them?"

"Don't you think I've tried that, I'm not _that_ stupid."

"I could debate that." Fishlegs mumbled over his breath.

"I _did_ try to get rid of them" Snotlout explained. "I chopped, cut, sliced; did everything and they just kept growing back" he shuddered, "It was freaky!"

"And let me guess" Ruffnut said, entering the conversation. "They wouldn't burn either?"

Snotlout nodded. "Hookfang couldn't even make a mark" He crossed him arms. "Who else could have done it, especially with a lame plant geek like you walking around?"

Fishlegs scoffed. "I didn't do anything, I went to bed like everyone else last night. . .hey wait, didn't you just say _you_ weren't in the village last night?"

"Yeah" Snotlout shrugged. "So?"

"Well where were you?" Ruffnut asked.

"Down at the beach."

"Doing what?" Ruffnut smirked. "Pouting over the engagement?"

"NO!" Snotlout quickly revolted. "Just. . .um. . .thinking?"

Ruffnut's smile deepened, now she knew how she was going to get him."But I bet you're not all too happy with it either?"

Snotlout shook his head. "No way, you think I like seeing a babe like Astrid marrying up a fish-bone like Hiccup?" he made small gagging sounds to emphasize. "Disgusting."

"Well then-" Ruffnut walked past Tuffnut and Fishlegs and stood in front of Snotlout; now she had him where she wanted him. With a bright smile she looped her arm around his, ignoring his shocked expression and batted her eyes. "Are you coming to breakfast?

* * *

><p>The plan had been set, now all that was left to do was to act it out. It was early afternoon, barely before lunchtime, Ruffnut would have waited a little longer, but her patience (or lack there of) wouldn't allow her to do so. She and Snotlout had gone over the plan several times before finally parting ways. The two gave one last nod before Ruffnut left towards the Great Hall.<p>

Looking it over and taking a breath, she opened up the doors; ready to approach the inevitable.

"Now we are having neighboring tribes there, correct?"

"Yes, there's the chief of the MeatHead Tribe, the chieftain of the Arrownis Tribe. . .would you like to see the list?"

'Astrid' nodded, practically _ripping_ the paper out the older woman's hands. Her eyes scaled down the list, but she didn't look happy, her face soon to turn from mellow, to shocked, and quickly angered as she seemed to be mentally counting down the names on the guest list.

"This is it?!" She exclaimed. "That can't be it!"

"Well. . ." the woman droned out. "You see, the wedding is coming so soon, and invitations can take a while to reach farther out and-

"Isn't that why we have dragons now?" 'Astrid' said spitefully, cutting her off. "So that things can go faster?"

The other woman, Marsha, is what Ruff believed her name was, shrank back down as the bride-to-be continued, neither aware as Ruffnut observed them.

"Perhaps you don't quite understand the importance of this occasion?" 'Astrid' started. "You see, the heir to this entire tribe, the very same person who _ended_ the dragon war, is about to be married; this event allows other leaders to see their savior AND who will hopefully one day be their ally in times of need." 'Astrid made sure the woman looked her in the eye, and listened carefully as she continued. "Such a thing as to not invite them, would be considered an insult among them and us."

Marsha nodded her head eagerly, back straight, shoulders back, in full attention to 'Astrid's' words. "So what would you have me do, specifically?"

'Astrid' handed back the list. "Talk with Stoick and look back at any and _all_ tribes in our contact, then see to it that the fastest dragons Berk can provide are available, I want the tribe leaders, as well as their closest family and friends to be there."

The older woman nodded. "Understood."

"And don't leave out a single person, there should be as many people there as possible!" 'Astrid' called out as Marsha took her leave.

Ruffnut scoffed. _"Since when was Astrid such a people person?"_ she thought, as she was about to walk over towards her, until-

"Astrid may I speak with you?" Mrs Hofferson walked over to her daughter before Ruffnut had a chance to.

"Yes mother?" the blonde answered cheerfully.

"I was planning on asking you on which flowers you want your bridal crown to have?"

'Astrid' looked over her a straight minute before giving off a soft giggle. "You're joking right?"

Mrs Hofferson raised an eye. "Excuse me?"

"Oh don't get me wrong!" 'Astrid defended. "I have nothing against other girls having a bridal crowns with flowers, it's just. . . .well, don't you believe a future ruler should have something a little more. . .**_grand_** persay?"

Astrid's mother blinked back, uncertain on how to answer. "Well. . .I suppose that-

"Wonderful!" 'Astrid' said gleefully. "Please talk it over with the blacksmith about a bejeweled bridal crown, thank you."

"Um. . .alright." Mrs Hofferson gave a small, resistant nod and left the plannings to her daughter.

'Astrid' sighed happily. "Everything's going along smoothly."

"_*ahem*_" Ruffnut cleared her throat.

'Astrid' turned her head and smiled. "Ah, Ruffnut!" she walked up to her and wrapped her arms around her, giving her a soft hug. "So glad you could make it, where's your brother?"

Ruffnut shrugged. "Probably doing something stupid" she looked around her friend, seeing she seemed to be alone. "Where's Hiccup?"

"Oh" 'Astrid' said softly. "I'm afraid he came down with an absolutely_ dreadful_ headache this morning, so I had him stay home and get some rest."

Ruffnut nodded. "So does that mean you're going to postpone the wedd-

"Oh dear NO!" 'Astrid interrupted frantically. Clearing her throat, she spoke again. "Don't worry about it, he'll be fine for the wedding, **I'll make sure of that**."

The way she said the last two lines made Ruff gulp before answering. "Alright." _"So Hiccup's not here, this is going better than I thought"_ she thought to herself, smiling up at her friend. "Soooo, anything you'd like me to help you with?"

* * *

><p>Snotlout understood his instructions. Just earlier that day Ruffnut confided in him her suspicions on whether or not Astrid and Hiccup were even going through with this wedding of their own free will. Snotlout couldn't help but agree. There was no way Astrid would stick herself with a scrawny little thing like Hiccup! Now all Snolout had to do was get a confession out of Hiccup, and everything would fall into place.<p>

Ruff told him to wait at the Haddock house for Hiccup to come back, while she talked to Astrid. What Snotlout didn't account on was Hiccup to already be there.

"Snotlout? Hi, you want to come in?"

Opening the door and welcoming him actually.

Greeted inside, Snotlout cautiously made his way in, taking note of Hiccup as to catch anything off about him. But he appeared normal, Hiccup smiled and invited his cousin in, allowing Snotlout a seat by the fireplace, while he sat across from him. What Snotlout did find odd though, was that the house seemed absent of a certain night fury dragon.

"So what brings you to here to my neck of the woods?" Hiccup asked, taking a small, already heated tea-pot off the fire, and pouring out a thick pink liquid into a mug for himself. Looking back up at Snotlout he held the mug out to him. "You want some?"

Snotlout looked in the mug, close enough to see it, just not the smell it, gazing at the strange concoction murkily. "I think I'll pass." Hiccup shrugged, gulping down a cup-full before pouring even more inside his mug.

"So" Snotlout started. "Why are you here?"

Hiccup paused the cup already again at his lips to raise an eye at Snotlout. "It's my house."

Snotlout groaned. "I mean why aren't you at the Great Hall?"

Hiccup gulped down the rest of his drink before continuing, eyeing the half-full tea pot as he did so. "Is there a specific reason why I should be there?" he asked, pouring out the rest of the pink drink into his cup.

Snotlout's eyes widened, his face of utter confusion. _"What reason? He's supposed to be planning his wedding for Thor's sake! Why's he so calm about all this, he's acting like there's nothing even going on? What's wrong with him?!" _

"Uh duh, your wedding?" Snotlout answered. "Which by the way is still plain weird. I mean Astrid is so out of your league to even date, let alone marry, and you're-well. ..you know how you are, plus-"

As Snotlout dragged on, and with Hiccup's back turned to his, he couldn't see the sheer terror within the other teen's eyes. At the sound of the wedding, Hiccup had frozen where he was, the cup fell out of his hand, dropping onto the floor and the pink potion spilling across the carpet.

"and I even survived lightening, not that I would want to get married now, too much baggage, but still I- hey Hiccup, are you even listening?" Snotlout stopped his excess amount of self-praise, to finally notice his cousin's lack of action. But Hiccup didn't answer.

"Hiccup?...You alright dude?"

It was back. The pain was back. Without warning, it striked his body, clawing at him, attempting to once again drag him into darkness. But he couldn't let it, he couldn't go back to the cold, numbing sensation. Hiccup knew what this was, was wrong, that meant giving into it was wrong, it was all wrong and he knew it! _"NO!"_ Hiccup shouted desperately in his mind. _"No, I can't do this!"_ But the pain wouldn't cease._ "I just need to breath, just breath, just breath. . ."_

Snotlout listened closely for sound. It was then he noticed one thing. Hiccup's breathing had become louder.

"Heh hah heh hah heh hah."

It went in a steady pattern. But only got louder.

"HEH hah HEH hah HEH hah HEH"

And faster,

"HEHhahHEHhahHEHhahHEH"

Short yet quick, were Hiccup's panting of breath. Snotlout feared to move, feared to do anything, something was very wrong with Hiccup. Snotlout desperately tried to tune out the disturbing sounds, and could only with the sound of his now agonizingly speeding heart-beat .

"...hiccup?..." he said quietly.

"EEEEHHHHH STTOOOOOP IT!" Hiccup shrilled, his knees buckling down for the floor, one hand gripping at his chest, and the other digging it's nails onto his skull.

"HICCUP!" Out of instinct, Snotlout ran to Hiccup's side, quickly holding onto him, to try and keep him from completely collapsing onto the ground. "Hiccup" Snotlout whispered. "What's going on?" It was strange, like Hiccup was having a battle inside his head.

Hiccup was slipping, slipping down, half his brain was turning cold, his vision was turning dull, soon enough the darkness would grab onto his mind again, soon enough, everything would be black again. The longer he tried the fight, the sharper each attack came, like a lightening producing dagger, cutting deep, scraping away at his will. The battle was one-sided.

"Hiccup get a hold of yourself!" Snotlout said.

Hiccup struggled to face him, his eyes were still their bright green, but shining with fear. The pain came pounding on his head, and shredding in his chest, but he couldn't give up, not just yet. "S...s...Snotlout?"

"Hiccup, what's wrong?!" Snolout demanded.

"I- it's too...too st..strONG...I'm scared...and my-it...it all feels...so COLD!"

Snotlout tightened his grip on his deranged relative. "What are you talking about?!"

Beads of sweat were already emerging onto Hiccup's brow, there wasn't much left he could take. "Snotlout!" Hiccup choked out. "P...pl...please..." he whispered. "...help me!"

"What's going on here." A new voice demanded. Taking his gaze off Hiccup, Snotlout turned to find 'Astrid' in the doorway, with his arms free, Hiccup's body now came in contact with the floor.

"HICCUP!" She screeched, running towards the limp figure. Snotlout and the bride-to-be helped position him back onto the couch, his head bobbed down with unconsciousness.

"Hiccup." She whispered in his ear, smoothing his hair.

"I don't know what happened, he just started screaming." Snotlout begged. Holding Hiccup down while he screamed for help, did not look good out of context, anyone could just as easily assumed the older boy had started pounding on him, and with Snotlout's violent demeanor and already shown interest in the bride, it wouldn't take much to convince the public of such a deed.

'Astrid' took her hands off Hiccup's shoulder, turning back to face Snotlout. "What do you mean _'he just started screaming'_?" she spat, her eyes cold and daring.

The viking teen could already feel his heartbeat picking back up. "I...I don't know...we...we were just talking and-

"About what?" The female demanded.

"Well we were-"

"What did you say to him?" She cut him off.

"N. .nothing."

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing, he said nothing."

"**Don't**! Lie to me!"

Her hostility had Snotlout slowly trying to create more distance between the two. Yet for every step he took back, she took two more closer, until he found himself backed up against a wall.

"I'm not lying." Snotlout urged.

Katherine took close inspection of the person before her. He didn't look afraid of her, whether he was too stubborn, or too stupid to be, he wasn't. He was mostly concerned, no doubt for Hiccup, but mostly on his self-image, if this confrontation were to leak out into village gossip. But he was also wary of her, the look in his eyes wasn't of fear, but of caution and confusion. Though not scared, he was wary and surprised, perhaps even suspicious of her.

That was dangerous, she didn't need some nosy, hard-headed, mutton-head on her radar.

He needed to be delt with.

'Astrid' smiled, shrugging off and turning heel towards a vase on the mantle, one of the many she had already put in the house, but more specifically, picking up one of the blue flowers inside it. "Tell me Snotlout, what do you know about roses?"

The question was unexpected to say the least, making the teenager second guess what exactly he heard. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

The blonde ignored his request, putting the bloom closer to her face, inhaling it's strong scent before continuing. "The rose is said to be the queen of all flowers, it's name is known by many, it's been used greatly to show the feeling of affection, and is said to be the most beautiful flower of them all."

Snotlout felt trapped in a strange and awkward situation. What was the point of this?

"So-

"And yet." She began again, cutting him off. "It is so much more." She looked up at him. "Did you know that some roses can handle even the most freezing of temperatures, their stems can be grown to handle even the strongest of winds and storms?"

Snotlout shrugged. "Not really but- OW!" He screeched when he felt something sharp stick his skin. 'Astrid' just hit him with the flower.

"Yet one of the most important features-" She spoke, uncaring to her action, "is their famous thorns." She carefully drew her finger down the stem, tracing it's thorns, cautious not to stick herself. "You see that's what's just so intriguing about them." She held the flower back down, walking back to Snotlout. "Something so beautiful, and strong, cherished by all, is also harmful, and can even be deadly to those ignorant of it."

'Astrid' looked down at him. "Oh dear you're cut." She spoke again, yet not with sympathy, and Snotlout didn't like the look of that grin on her face as she gazed at the wound. His arm had three small holes punctured in, little drops of blood could be seen beginning to reach the surface of his skin.

"Here." She grabbed his arm. "Let me help." The blonde plucked a few perfect blue petals off the rose she had laid down, and pulled off one of the blue ribbons, that had been used for tying and decorating the bouquets. She placed the soft petals over the cuts and began to tye the ribbon around it.

"These specific rose blossoms are said to have healing properties you know." 'Astrid' explained.

Snotlout looked over the wound distrustingly. "Really?"

"Oh definitely." She assured, tightening the ribbon. "In a few seconds, you're going to feel better than you've ever felt in your life."

Her hand felt cool as it tyed the ribbon onto his arms, the pricks no longer stinged, but now only tingled until the feeling turned faint and soon enough, only numbness.

But it didn't stop there, the torpidness spread out, across his shoulders, down his other arm, climbing up his neck. Everything above his torso quickly became cold and unfeeling, finally reaching to his head and face.

His mind felt chilled and dizzy, immediately his eyes closed and the scent of lavender covered him in pleasure.

Katherine smiled at her work, now with her power growing, (and the disposal of an incompetent mind), her influence appeared to be quicker and more efficient than before. Here she had him, in just a few minutes, stood up, eyes closed, shoulders sagged, and mind open for her suggestion.

"Now-" she purred, whispering to his ear. "Now your mind is empty." She stroked his arm around the ribbon. "Now your body is relaxed."

"Mmhhh." He murmured.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, it's not bad to give in." Her voice flew into his ear so delicately. "It's not bad to be controlled." So smoothly, easily planting itself into his brain.

"You are now in my control."

He remained silent.

"Speak when you are spoken to." She demanded; though her tone was sharper, Katherine made sure the volume stayed low.

"Y. .yes." He moaned weekly.

"Good." She said. "Now listen carefully. . .

* * *

><p>How could she had been so stupid, so reckless? How could she do such a thing and put her plan at risk? How could she lose sight of Astrid?! It was amazing, it was incredible; Ruff turned her back for one second, and suddenly BAM gone. Vanished, and out of sight. She searched through the sea of people in the Great Hall, until finally deciding that Astrid left and headed out.<p>

Running out, not caring of who or what she bumped in to, resulting in a few crashes and curses from behind, not that they mattered to Ruffnut. Luckily for her, the chief's home wasn't that far a run from the Great Hall after all. Though when she did reach it, it seemed she was too late.

Just as Ruff hit the front yard, the door opened up, and three figures came out. Snotlout came out first, looking surprisingly a little too calm for Ruffnut's liking. Not trailing far behind, 'Astrid' stood, her arm liked strongly with Hiccup's, a sense of protectiveness centered around her, as she eyed Hiccup intensely.

"Ruff? Is that you?" 'Astrid' cried out.

_"Darn it, she spotted me!"_ Ruffnut thought.

"Come over here." She waved out for Ruffnut, walking and meeting her halfway in the yard. "I'm sorry that I left you so early, but I really must thank-you again for your opinion dear, you've been a big help."

"Uh...thanks?" Was the only reply Ruff could think of on the spot. Tracing her eyes away, she looked in Snolout's vision; perhaps it was paranoia, but did he _ever_ look that happy?

"In fact" 'Astrid started, forcing Ruff to turn back to her. "I know this may be sudden, but I would love for you to be a bridesmaid for me!"

Ruffnut gave a gasp. "Really?!"

"Definitely!" She smiled. "There's no doubt in my mind."

Ruffnut gagged, and took a step back, that stinging lavender smell was coming back. Seeing her cough and reject the scent, 'Astrid' frowned. "Please take the time to think it over if you have to, I'm getting my gown fitted tomorrow and I would love to have you there, if you are, I'll believe your answer is yes." She declared. "Alright?"

"Um..." Ruffnut returned her gaze to Snotlout, something didn't seem right about him either. On one hand, if she accepted the offer, she may be closer to finding out what was going on. But on the other hand. . ._"I might get too close"_ she thought, looking over Snotlout. _"Did she do something to him? Would she do something to me?" _"Um...I

"Excellent!" 'Astrid cut her off. "Tomorrow then."

As Ruffnut nodded and turned around to leave, she could still feel Astrid's eyes on her, no doubt making sure she didn't stick around, probably only waiting until she was a good distance away before actually going inside and doing... what-ever she was planning on doing with Hiccup. After several minutes of constant walking, Ruff stopped and turned towards Snotlout.

"So how'd it go?" she asked.

Snotlout raised an eye. "How did_ what_ go?"

_"What? There's no way. How could he just forget"_ she thought. "Uh, talking with Hiccup, stopping this wedding!" Ruff reminded.

"Stop the wedding? Why would I want to stop that?" he asked.

Ruffnut choked back a breath. Did he just- NO, it couldn't be, she must have just imagined it. Swallowing down her fear, Ruffnut spoke again. "Don't you want to stop this wedding?"

Snotlout shrugged. "Not really."

"WHAT?!"

"I just don't see the problem with it." Snotlout explained. "Anyway, I have to go, see ya later."

Ruff watched him leave, not a care in the world.

Now she _knew_ something was going on.

* * *

><p>It was late in the night, 'Astrid' was up in her room, in her nightgown, brushing out her long blonde hair. Looking in the mirror, Katherine frowned, she missed her ebony shaded hair, her eyes were never as blue as they used to be, and besides when she sang with the siren song she gained years ago, her voice wasn't her's either.<p>

_"But nothing was ever accomplished without sacrifice."_ She reminded herself. "Besides" she whispered to herself, knowing the parents were downstairs. "This is only temporary."

"Astrid, can you come down here?" Mrs Hofferson called out.

Katherine sat the brush down and grinned. "I wonder what it could be?" she mumbled sarcastically.

Gliding down the stairs in her powder blue nightgown, 'Astrid' met her mother on the ground floor. Just a few feet from where she stood, was a large, tall, object, covered from eyes with a deep purple drape and a large white bow on it. Mrs Hofferson looked over to her, showing her the object. "What is this?"

'Astrid' shrugged. "A wedding gift perhaps?"

"Maybe a portrait?" Mrs Hofferson guessed.

Her 'daughter' gave a soft chuckle. "Maybe?" Walking past the elder woman, 'Astrid' undid the large bow, and gently pulled at the drape, having it cascade down her bare ankles, revealing, a tall, silver lined looking glass.

"A mirror?" Mrs Hofferson asked. "Not nearly as personal as a portrait."

'Astrid' ignored her, smiling up at her reflection, tracing her finger across the ornate engravings embedded in the silver. "It's quite nice though", she turned towards her 'mother'. "Mother, could you please help take this up to my room?"

Mrs Hofferson nodded, the mirror didn't look to heavy, showing no need for her to call in her husband. "Alright then." Picking the large object from the ground, and as expected was incredibly light, she made her way towards the stairs, only bumping once slightly on the stairway.

"Careful!" 'Astrid' said, overlooking her way up the stairs. "I don't want anything to happen to it!" She gave a quick smiling glance back at her reflection as it moved up the stairs. "I believe this present may end up being my favorite."

**(Don't worry, next chapter will be MUCH more interesting, I promise. Sooo, why do YOU think Ruff isn't affected by her magic? What do YOU think Katherine told Snotlout. OH and now that the mirror's back, you know what that means. THE REAL ASTRID IS COMING BACK YAY! That will be Friday, maybe sooner. With all said and done, this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	19. Chapter 19: Mirrored Truth

**(Okay, I'm going to be honest, this chapter isn't my best work. I had a tad bit of writer's block for this one, and it's a little sloppy. And because I put in so much in this chapter; it makes it a little choppy as well. Hopefully on Tuesday, the next one will be better. But until then, enjoy what you can!)**

"Ruff where are we going?" Tuff moaned.

"Oh stop whining baby!" his sister snapped. It was late in the night, and Ruffnut was now dragging her half-asleep brother half-way up the island. It was practically a known for fact that the chief would usually spend late nights in the Great Hall whenever large amounts of work would show up. Such as work for a special occasion.

Specifically..._a wedding_. And if she could no longer rely on a secondary source for help, Ruffnut had no choice but to go to the one in charge herself.

* * *

><p>"That's it" Stoick breathed. "Finally!" The chief rubbed his aching neck, observing over the endless list of papers, files, lists, and invitations scattered over the table. "These should be mailed first thing in the morning." He sank in his chair and groaned with exhaustion.<p>

"Tired Stoick?"

The chief turned to see his old time friend Gobber with an extra mug of ale and a look of sympathy. "Wedding problems?"

Stoick nodded, taking the offered mug and drinking down the liquid. "All this paperwork; Astrid has a pretty big guest list in mind."

"Aye" Gobber agreed. "She seems to have a _lot_ of things in mind, her mother just came to me today, talking about a jewled bridal crown."

"Really!" Stoick said, glancing down at is cup. "Well. . ." his voice trailed off. "Ah!' Stoick gave a quick jolt, just in time for a quick spark of blue to flicker his eyes before continuing. "I...I suppose as my future-daughter-in-law, she should have the best." He picked up a handful of papers from the table and glanced over them. "Makes sense then to have so many present at the wedding."

Gobber shrugged, and drank down the rest of his ale. "I guess so." Emptying his mug, Gobber raised his arms and stretched. "Well...I should probably get to bed, night Stoick."

Stoick nodded. "Night Gobb-

**_*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* _**The banging of the Hall door cut the chief off.

"Eh, what now?" Gobber asked.

"Open it!" Stoick commanded.

Gobber obliged, opening up the large wooden door. Unbeknownst to him was that as soon as he did-

"CHIEF, CHIEF!" Gobber felt himself forced onto the ground at the sound of a screeching teenager. Ruffnut ran past, leaving a dazed Gobber and Tuffnut on the floor and walked up to a shocked Stoick.

"Ms Thortson what is the meaning if this?!" he demanded.

"Chief, I need to talk to you!" Ruff said frantically. She looked around their surrounds, making sure that it was just the four of them before whispering. "It's about Hiccup."

Stoick's eyes widened. "Is something wrong?"

"I believe there might be."

Stoick rushed the girl into a chair beside him, by this time Gobber and Tuffnut had joined them, ready to listen. "Go on." Stoick instructed.

As she relived her tale, Ruff had to be sure to switch certain things around; as she described the scene at the cove she just so happened to 'stumble' upon, and 'coincidentally' meeting Snotlout earlier that day. Both Stoick and Gobber listened quietly as she talked, only giving a glance or two at each other, before returning their attention to Ruffnut.

"All I'm trying to say is that none of this looks right to me." Ruffnut concluded as she finished.

Stoick stood up from his chair, his eyes narrowed. "Is this some kind of a JOKE!" He boomed. "Are you honestly asking me to believe that my son has been bewitched by some sort of Seiðr?"

"Eh Stoick?' Gobber interfered, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now don't take this too seriously," Gobber chuckled. "Their no doubt just joking around, being the usual troublemaker twins they are." He turned to Tuffnut, who had went back to napping on the table, and a nervous Ruffnut. "Right kids?"

"NO!" Ruffnut urged with pleading eyes. "Sir, it's not a joke, something is wrong, _very _wrong, please listen to me!"

"Ruffnut, Astrid is about to be married, it's probably just the act of nerves." Gobber explained. "Why I remember back when Stoick was to wed" he chuckled. "Poor man was on wit's end, weren't you Stoick?"

Stoick rolled his eyes, arms still crossed, obviously still upset over Ruffnut's previous accusation.

But Ruffnut was not amused. "That's. Not. IT!" she yelled in frustration. "I know Astrid, I've known her since we were kids, and also I know that this isn't how she would act, nervous or otherwise!" She said with confidence. "Why can't you wrap that around your head?"

"Because it's absolute NONSENSE!" Stoick banged his hands on the table. "There is no way in Vallahalla that there would be a witch in the village without me knowing anything about it, _especially_ if my son was being cursed by one."

"But-" Ruffnut started.

"Now Ruffnut" Gobber started. "You and Astrid are clearly very close friends correct?"

Ruff nodded. "She's like a sister to me."

"And this wedding was very surprising right?"

"Well...yeah, but-

"There you go!" Gobber said gleefully, slapping her on the back. "This whole wedding business has gotten your skivvies in a twist and now you're uncertain about someone you've always felt you could trust, you're probably just being a little possessive, and a _teeny_ bit paranoid."

Ruffnut's eyes widened. _"I've never really thought of that"_ she thought. Looking back, perhaps the news took her by such a surprise, maybe... maybe everything _was_ fine, and all these 'strange' happenings, were just her trying to come up with an excuse, instead of a reason as to why this happened. "I...I guess, maybe." she mumbled dryly.

"Then it's settled then" Gobber said. Using arm and hook, he pushed Ruff, and Tuff (who was just now waking back up) towards the door. "Now why don't you just go get some rest, alright?" The doors pushed open and allowed the twins to meet with the outside. "Goodnight!"

The large doors were firmly shut behind her as Ruffnut and her sleepy brother were outside, dismissing Ruffnut of another meeting tonight. With so much to process, Ruff went down the stone steps and dragged her brother back home.

* * *

><p>Another restless night looked to be her's. Laying back down, Ruff looked up at the dark wooden ceiling, her mind in deep processing. <em>"Could it be?"<em> she thought. _"All this time, was it just my imagination?"_ Ruffnut looked back; as much as she hated to admit it, she wasn't the most trustworthy person on Berk. Ruff loved to gossip, and was a killer blabbermouth; truthfully, could she really blame Astrid for keeping her love-life a secret? And if that was the case, that would have explained her friend's strange behavior before the wedding announcement _and_ the wedding announcement in general.

_"And what do I know about marriage?"_ she thought. _"For all I know, this could be regular bride behavior._"

_"Besides, it's not like she doesn't want me to be part of her wedding, she wants me to be a bride's maid for Freya's sake!_" The thought made a guilty knot grow in her stomach. _"She's been trying to get me involved in her wedding, and all I've done is push her away...well that and accuse her of being a Seiðr." _

Ruffnut gave out an exaggerated huff. "All this thinking is hurting my brain." she groaned out turning around on her left side. In the darkness of the twins' bedroom, Ruff declared quietly, "Tomorrow, I'm going to that gown fitting!.

Closing her eyes she whispered. "Tomorrow I'm going to be a better friend."

* * *

><p><em>"Oh!"<em>

_._

_._

_"Uh!"_

_._

_._

_"Hoph"_

_._

_._

_"OOf!"_

_._

_._

"Too tight for you Astrid?" Ruffnut joked. Lounging on Astrid's bed beside Heather, Ruff chuckled as Astrid's mother and aunt were tightening up the bride's corset.

"Actually-_umph_" 'Astrid' choked as Mrs Hofferson tightened up the corset strings. "I believe it's just about right." She turned to Ruffnut. "Could you please hand me my dress, it's over the bedpost beside you?"

Ruffnut nodded, hopping down from the bed and taking hold of the bundle of white fabric. "Woah!" she breathed picking it up. The dress weighed a ton more than she thought it would. "What's this dress made of? Iron?!"

"Hand it over." Astrid's aunt helped her sister finish up her niece's corset strings and took hold of wedding dress from Ruffnut. 'Astrid' held her hands up in the air, and allowed for the thick fabric flow down over her corset and underskirt.

Helping smooth it down, Ruff could see now, why it was so heavy. The dress was dazzling! The bodice was practically made out of gemstones, with dozens of blue and white crystals embedded into the fabric with silver threads, and the skirt had been layered with fabric and sparkling stones littered across it. Ruffnut had never seen a dress, for any occasion, so incredibly elaborate.

'Astrid' gave a squeal of joy. "So tell me" she twirled around in the gown; the gems picking up the sunlight pouring in, making the dress glimmer across the room. "What do you think?"

Ruffnut raised an eye. "_Since when did Astrid squeal?! Speaking of which, when did Astrid get such a 'sparkly' sense of style and...-NO!"_ She stopped her train of thought. _"NO, nothing is wrong. It's her wedding, why shouldn't she want the best?. . .but still...-NO! Bad Ruffnut! Stop thinking like that!" _

"I think you look beautiful!" Heather breathed. "Hiccup sure is a lucky guy."

'Astrid' smiled. "That's so sweet of you." She said, admiring her reflection in the silver-lined mirror she was standing by. "But I think I'm really the lucky one."

Heather shrugged. "Well I bet you two will be very happy together."

'Astrid' turned towards her. "Thank you dear." Looking more closely, 'Astrid' brushed out a lock of Heather's hair that seemed to be in her face. "You know you have such pretty hair."

Heather blinked back. "Really?"

"Oh yes!" 'Astrid' beamed. "You know, having raven black hair like that is extremely rare around here, most people here are brunette, or red-head, or blonde. . .like me."

"Well...I'm not originally from here, so maybe that's why?" Heather offered.

'Astrid's' mouth made a soft O-shape. "Oh. . .right. . .of course! Anyway. . ." She swifted towards her 'mother' and 'aunt'. "Thank you for your assistance, but could you please excuse me and my bridesmaids?"

The elder women nodded, turning to take their leave out the door, leaving the three teenagers alone.

"That's quite a gown, I'm not gonna lie!" Ruffnut stated.

'Astrid' giggled. "I know, but I'm sure it's going to look much better with the bridal crown; but that's not what I want to talk about."

"Oh?" Ruff questioned. "What's going on?"

"Is something wrong?" Heather asked concerned.

"Actually there is?" 'Astrid' walked towards the window, glancing up at the sky, a few wild dragons could be seen flying past the house. "It's about the dragons."

"What about them?" Ruff asked.

"Well, they _are_ wild animals," 'Astrid' started. "And I just don't want to risk having those _creatures_ around and mucking up with the wedding."

Ruffnut took a few steps back. "_Creatures? Why would Astrid...-NO, just wedding nerves, just wedding nerves."_ Ruff plastered on a fake smile. "I see."

"Yes, but I doubt many of the villagers would agree." 'Astrid' sighed. "I just wish there was some way to keep those _pests_ away from the ceremony."

"That could be a problem." Heather added.

Ruffnut patted her on the back. "C'mon Ash, I'm sure the dragons won't be any trouble."

"I don't know." 'Astrid' said unsure.

"Hey, the worst you have to worry about, would probably be a prank from Tuffnut or Snotlout." Ruffnut assured.

'Astrid' gave off an innocent laugh. "Oh I doubt Snotlout will be a problem."

"Why not?"

'Astrid shrugged. "Just a feeling." she said, though her grin said otherwise.

"Alright?" Ruffnut said. "But either way, you'll have nothing to worry about, you have _me_ as a bridesmaid remember?" Ruffnut joked.

"Speaking of which, where are our dresses?" Heather asked.

"Oh yes there-" The bride-to-be paused. "Oh dear, I must have left them downstairs" she smiled. "Would you go down and get them please?"

"Alright!" Heather said cheerfully, leading Ruffnut and herself out the door.

Ruffnut shrugged and followed Heather out the door and down the stairs.

"Oh wait!" Ruffnut stopped half-way down. _"I better clear things up with Astrid?"_ she thought. "Hey I'll be right back." she cried out to Heather and turned back.

_"She probably thinks I'm mad at her with how I've acted lately."_ Ruffnut thought, walking back up the other girl's room, just about to knock until-

"So, tell me what you think."

Ruffnut paused her fist, inches from the wood. Was Astrid talking to herself?

"I think you look like a spoiled brat." a voice snapped.

Ruff's eyes widened. So there was someone else in the room! But who? Curiosity getting the best of her, Ruffnut kneeled down and tried to look through the key-hole.

* * *

><p>Dragons. Maybe it was because of how dangerous they were. Maybe it was because she, herself, had grown-up in a time of fear against the animals. Maybe it was the fact that seduction magic wouldn't work on them. But whatever the reason, she knew those dragons, <em>especially<em> that snoopy little night-fury, were a potential threat to her plans.

The same could be said about that Ruffnut character. Whatever the reason, she wasn't affected by her magic, and it didn't take a blind man to deduce that she was probably suspicious of her. Keeping her around was Katherine's best option; after all, you should always keep you friends close and enemies closer.

Once she had excused all of them from the room, Katherine sighed in contentment; now she was alone.

Almost.

Giving one last look at her reflection, Katherine muttered in the incantation and watched as the image before her shifted. The real Astrid could be seen back turned from Katherine.

"You know it's rude not to look people in the eye."

She could see Astrid's body tense up by the sound of another voice, but quickly try to relax, and her arms begin to fold; no doubt trying to pretend Katherine's presence didn't surprise her. But once she turned around, seeing Katherine in her wedding dress, her face melted into one of pure panic and terror.

Katherine grinned over her misery. "So, tell me what you think."

Astrid looked ready to kill her. Her breathing was intense, and her eyes were cold, but she knew she couldn't do anything; and Katherine loved it. "I think you look like a spoiled brat!" Astrid snapped.

Katherine chuckled. "Technically, you're saying that _you_ look like a spoiled brat, it is in fact your body in this dress."

"The body that you stole from-

"No, no, no" Katherine wagged a finger at her and cut her off. "You did the spell willingly, there-fore you _gave_ your body to me."

"Katherine, if you don't let me out of here I swear-

"You know it's not nice to swear." Katherine said, once again dismissing Astrid from finishing a sentence. "So why don't you shut that large mouth of yours, and maybe if you're nice..." Katherine's smile deepened. "I'll let you talk to Hiccup."

Astrid's eyes widened. "What have you done to him?!"

"Oh nothing. . ." Katherine said nonchalantly, ". . .too severe."

Astrid gritted her teeth. "You can't keep me locked up here forever!"

"Really?" Katherine said batting her eyes. "I thought I was doing a pretty good job so far."

"It doesn't matter, I won't stop fighting! I will _never_ stop fighting! And when I get out of her I will-"

"You sure do talk a lot, you know that?" Katherine exclaimed. "And it's always about you, **_'I'_** won't, _**'I'**_ will, _**'I', 'I', 'I'**_; you know you're not the best conversationalist."

Katherine could see Astrid desperately trying to keep her temper down. "Do you know how much I want to strangle you right now?" Astrid asked, with clenched jaw.

The body-stealing spirit flashed out a grin. "Oh I know; I know you won't stop fighting; and I also now you won't escape." She shrugged. "Well, I hate to cut you short, but you know how wedding planning is." Katherine's hand gave off it's cold blue glow. "Oh wait, I guess you wouldn't would you?"

Dropping her arm down, Katherine watched happily as Astrid banged at the glass in a desperate attempt to stop herself from begin once again isolated from the rest of the world. The last clear sounds she could hear was Katherine's laughter.

* * *

><p>Ruffnut felt her heart pounding in her chest so hard that it hurt, and so loud, she felt for sure this "fake-Astrid" had to have heard it. Sweat was already forming in her, suddenly everything felt so much colder. All the energy felt rushed out of her body; holding onto the doorknob, she laiyed her head against the door, breathing heavily, trying stop the spinning in her head and to unbind the knottings of dozens emotions weighing down inside her.<p>

Realization.

Shock.

Fear.

Panic.

Guilt.

Sadness.

Anger.

_"I knew something was wrong, I knew it!"_

But then the unthinkable happened. Ruffnut heard the the click of a doorknob turning, and the door being pulled away from her!

Before her mind even had the time to process it, Ruffnut found her feet forcing her up and pounding against every step making up the staircase, her body knowing she needed to escape.

Hearing the noise, Heather glanced up at a frantic Ruffnut, blue bridesmaid dress in her hand. "Ruffnut hi; aren't these dresses wonderful I really like-

"Sorry, got to go!" Ruffnut yelled, running past her to the luckily opened front door. "Gotathingataplacetogoto!" She cried out with a half-baked excuse behind her.

"O-kay?" Heather said questionably.

* * *

><p>Fishlegs sighed as he turned the page of his book. Glancing over his shoulder, Meatlug was only a few feet away from him, eyeing him carefully. "You know girl, you're going to have to let me outside eventually, right?"<p>

The gronkle eyed the door with a low growl.

"I can speculate that as a 'no' then" Fishlegs concluded, turning back to his book. Ever since he got back to his house yesterday, Meatlug had practically held him hostage in the home. Giving him his meals and watching him until he went to bed.

First putting him into a tree, then making him a prisoner in his own home; what was it out there that she was so afraid of?

The pounding of a door was what interrupted his thoughts.

"HEY FISHLEGS!" A feminine voice cried out. "FISHLEGS OPEN THE DOOR!"

"Ruffnut?" Fishlegs questioned, recognizing the voice. Meatlug growled again over the noise. "Easy girl." Fishlegs petted his dragon. "Let's just see what she wants."

"FISHLEGS O-PEN- UP!" Ruffnut continued to yell and bang on the door.

Fishlegs groaned. "Come on girl, if I don't open it she'll-

"THAT'S IT! I'M COMING IN!" With a large, force-filled kick, Fishlegs' door met the ground, and in the door-way, stood an extremely impatient girl.

"MY DOOR!" Fishlegs screeched. "You-...you just-

"We have bigger things to worry about than that!" Ruffnut snapped. "And if we don't act fast, this entire island could be cursed."

"What are you talking about? Oh, and I just got it sanded..." Fishlegs cried over the wood. "What could be so important that you just had to break down my door?!" Fishlegs demanded.

With a groan, Ruff turned heel, picking up the fallen piece of wood, throwing and slamming it back into the door-way. "There, door's fixed; now listen to me, unless you want to spend the rest of your life as a frog or something."

Fishlegs folded his arms. "This better be worth my time."

* * *

><p>As Ruffnut finished her story about the mirror, she waited for Fishlegs' response.<p>

He laughed.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Ruffnut demanded.

"Oh but it is." Fishlegs disagreed. "You see, science shows that the existence of witchcraft is next to impossible, including trance-like vocal patterns, body changing/morphing, and the entrapping of others into smaller and unhallowed matter."

"Oh really?" Ruffnut said with a huff. "Then how do you explain all I saw?"

Fishlegs took a moment or two to think before answering, and shrugged. "Perhaps it's what you said before; that you might be suffering from over exposed amounts of shock, resulting in distrust and paranoia; apparently strong enough to enact false visions of negativity."

Ruffnut gave an unamused face. "Say it in words I don't need a year to look up."

Fishlegs rolled his eyes. "Translation: Don't you think you're overreacting about all this?"

At the sound of his claim, Ruff slouched down in her couch. He had given her the exact same response as Gobber, and probably of anyone else if she were to ask. But she knew what she saw was true! Only, now she also knew that she probably wouldn't be convincing anyone soon.

"Fine" Ruffnut spat with defeat. Standing up she turned around. "Don't believe me then."

The seriousness of her expression made Fishlegs do a double-take, making sure he was talking to the right person. He never saw either of the twins look so serious; about anything! _"Could she really be serious about this?"_ Fishlegs thought. _"Even if she is, it still doesn't take away the fact that this is completely ludicrous to even consider. . .but still. . ."_

Fishlegs gave off a small sigh. "Can you tell me one good reason why I should believe you?"

Ruffnut paused her steps to the newly-fixed door, and turned around, her eyes still dead-serious, and now slightly glossed with tears. She looked up at the brainiact. "Because I came here."

Fishlegs raised an eyebrow. _"What does that have to do with anything?"_ he thought.

"Have I ever come to you for help? For anything?" Ruffnut asked, but didn't wait for an answer and made her way to the door.

_"Oh"_ Fishlegs thought, observing walked back up to the door. "Hey wait!"

Ruffnut turned around and Fishlegs turned to her. He put a hand on her shoulder. "This is probably nonsense...but, if you're really serious about this-

"And I am." Ruffnut answered.

"Then-" Fishlegs sighed. "Let's go the Gothi and check it out."

Ruffnut beamed a desperately relieved smile; someone was going to help her; she wasn't alone. "Thank you Fishlegs!"

Fishlegs gave a small smile. "Well, keep in mind that-

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Ruffnut grabbed a hold of his arm once again, rushing him outside with her, whilst Meatlug followed in pursuit. "Come on!"

"Okay, okay, Ruff!" Fishlegs tried to say. "But there's still a very good chance that it's nothing!"

* * *

><p>"Oh it's not nothing." Gothi exclaimed.<p>

"See." Ruffnut whispered to Fishlegs. "I knew it."

"I'm still getting over the fact that she can talk!" Fishlegs whispered back.

"_ahem_" Gothi cleared her throat annoyed. "I may be old, but I can still hear you, this house isn't that big."

"Sorry." The two mumbled. They were both in Gothi's hut, as she explained to them about the witch named Katherine. "So this Katherine" Ruffnut started. "If her magic is the reason why everyone's just flat-out agreeing with her, how come I'm not affected?"

"Mhhmm." Gothi muttered. "Now that, I'm not quite sure; you've already seen the affects her magic has had on both Snotlout and Fishlegs; but _you_ haven't been changed at all, which probably explains why she's been keeping you around her so much."

"Well why aren't you affected?" Fishlegs asked.

"I have prepared for this" Gothi explained. "Look around this room."

Turning their heads, the two teenagers could see that several different sized and colored herbs had been nailed onto the walls of her hut.

"The herbs?" Fishlegs guessed.

Gothi nodded. "However they can only protect to an extent; against Katherine's magic head-on, their next to useless."

Ruffnut huffed back down. "So that's it then! What do you want us to do?!"

"I say use your ability to your advantage." Gothi instructed. "Get your brother, if you aren't unaffected, chances are he isn't either."

"Okay, then what?"

"Because I don't know exactly what happened, you'll have to get Astrid to tell you what she knows. Now-" Gothi looked over the door. "I suggest you both leave."

"What WHY?!" Ruffnut demanded.

"Ruffnut, sit down." Fishlegs instructed, fearing to disrespect the great healer.

"No" Ruffnut dejected. "After all we've went through, you just want to throw us both back out there?!"

"If you stay here too long, Katherine will find out!" Gothi said urgently.

Ruffnut crossed her arms. "How would she find out?"

Gothi sighed. "As you've already seen, Katherine has gotten stronger, strong enough to persuade people's minds and actions."

Fishlegs gulped. "W..what are you saying?"

"I don't think it's too far to think that Katherine may have already set spies or helpers in the village." Gothi turned to them. "_That's_ what I'm saying, you can't trust anyone."

Having the last word, Gothi directed the two out of her hut, with Meatlug in toll.

"Good-luck." Gothi muttered and shut the door.

"So now what do we do?" Fishlegs said, though his body was still shaking slightly over Gothi's threat of Katherine.

Ruffnut looked down over the village and grimaced, the flowers covered most of the land, making it looked as though a light blue blanket had been spread out across Berk. She tightened her hands until her knuckles turned white.

"We get to that mirror!"

**(Yeah, this is not my best work, I'm not going to lie, I had a bit of writers block for this chapter. Sorry again for being choppy, hopefully, Tuesday's chapter will be better. So now Ruffnut knows the truth. WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?! I know, but you don't. Tell me what you think in the comments. With that said Read and Review, and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	20. Chapter 20:We Found You

**(Hello readers of the world. I've been in stress lately, over family drama; and let's just say Easter planning, and three family dinners, for three straight days in a row, doesn't help it much. But anyway, thank-you for being patient.)**

**(And to Gamer Guest- Okay, I admit, I'm not much of a gamer, but out of curiosity, I checked this "The Witch's House" game out and WOW, I HAD NO IDEA, but yes, it's scarily similar to my story, even with the victims both being seen through a mirror. For those who are confused, here's a game summary.)**

**"A young girl named Ellen, becomes friends with a girl named Viola (who is a witch). Viola happens to be extremely ill, and asks Ellen, if they could switch bodies "just for the day" to allow Viola the chance to feel healthy again. Ellen agrees. However, right before the spell takes place, Viola, cuts off her own legs and cuts out her own eyes, she plans to stay in Ellen's body and live her life with Ellen's loving father, and leave the real Ellen for dead. Ellen, tricked and in pain, now tries to keep Viola hostage in the house with her"**

**(If you want more information, I suggest Wiki or watching Youtuber Markiplier's walk-through on it; he's really funny, and I think you guys might enjoy it. But no, I didn't even know about the game until the Guest Gamer brought it up.)**

**(HOWEVER: READ THIS PART:READ THIS PART:READ THIS PART: In light of it, I've decided to use the fansong "Friend" of the game in my story; to hear it, follow this link **watch?v=ee-07lOOY9Q** I highly recommend it. You can practically trade Viola's and Ellen's parts with Katherine and Astrid with it!)**

**(With that said. On with the show)**

"Have you found anything yet?"

Fishlegs groaned, as Ruffnut asked the same question again for, (what he calculated) the 67th time in an overall 120 minutes. Without looking up from his book, he turned the page, and resumed to work. "If I had found anything I would have _told_ you."

Ruffnut scoffed. The two were inside the record building, a tall structure on the east-side of Berk, holding every trade-paper, every social gathering, every birth-certificate, any and all record of past events since even before the Hairy-Hooligan tribe had settled onto the island of Berk. The building itself was built into a hill-side in order to better protect it from previous dragon-raids. It felt like forever for Ruffnut since she walked in, and she was running out of patience.

"How long does it take to find a piece of paper?" Ruffnut asked, hands on her hips.

"Not as long if you stop complaining and start helping me." Fishlegs snapped, closing the book with a loud _*smack*_ and placed it on the small stack of books he had already read. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Fishlegs gave an exasperated sigh in defeat, pushing away already looked through scrolls and parchments. "I've observed ever name, and every date within the past 80 years, and **nothing**! It's like she didn't even exist!"

Ruff huffed as she sifted through more files. "Well if she didn't, we wouldn't be in this mess, now would we?" Angrily, she forced another tugged file of papers off a shelf and threw them onto Fishlegs's desk. "Just keep looking!"

Fishlegs looked over the pile and tilted his head. "Uh, Ruffnut, I don't think we're going to find anything from these papers."

"And why not?"

"Because these are last month's trading papers." Fishlegs said, waving the file over his face.

Aggravated, Ruffnut snatched the file away and shoved it back in the bookshelf, making a few other items shake from the force.

Fishlegs sat up. "Careful!" he pleaded, running to straighten the bookcase. "Some of these files go back into the earliest centuries, we don't want to mess anything up."

Ruff rolled her eyes and proceeded in helping fix the crooked angle of the files before Fishlegs went into a heart-attack about it. Or worse, another lecture. "Alright, don't blow your head off...on second thought, that'd actually be very funny, continue." Ruffnut joked, earning a side-way glare from Fishlegs, as she continued draping her hands across the scrolls and book-bindings, in order to straighten them.

Until-

Ruffnut paused, her hand felt something that felt neither like paper, or leather. Solid, but smooth, silky, and cool on her fingertips. Curiosity besting her, Ruff gripped a hand onto the object and pulled it off the shelf.

A journal. At least, that's what it looked like. A thin, little book wrapped with a strange, shiny black material, Ruff could not describe. Whatever it was, it looked expensive; opening it up, she could see that the papers were exceptionally well put into bindings and the material covering it gleamed in the sunlight. Looking over the inside front cover was an **A** drawn in cursive scripture in golden ink.

Fishlegs peered over at the item in her hands. "What's that?"

Ruffnut shrugged, turning the book over. "A book." She flipped through the pages. But looking them over, her eyes widened, they all were empty! Flipping through them again, two more times, more slowly and still no sign of any change among the pages. Who left a empty book in the Hall of Records? Ruff narrowed her eyes back down and sneered. Pretty or not, it didn't do anything to help her situation. "An _empty_ book." She moaned, carelessly tossing the journal over her shoulder, making it land onto the floor with a _*flop*_ down.

"Would you stop just throwing things around like that?" Fishlegs scolded. "A lot of this stuff is very fragile." He walked past her to pick up the book, now open down on the ground.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes as Fishlegs bent down to where the book landed. The boy irritated her to no end; sure, Ruffnut would admit it herself, she wasn't the sharpest spear in the armory, but at the very least she kept her priorities straight. If she was going to tip a yak, she was going to tip a yak, not measure how many blades of grass each yak covered; and if she was going to save her friend from an evil she-demon, she was going to do just that, not obsess over some old musty books.

Fishlegs picked up the open book off the ground, dusting off any dirt from the floor, when something caught his eye.

"Ruffnut, I thought you said this book was empty?"

"I did."

Fishlegs shook his head. "You should probably look again." The boy held the small journal up for her to see and pointed at the top corner of one of the pages. Ruff's eyes trailed up to where his finger landed and squinted. At the top of the supposedly blank yellow pages, was a small inscription in black ink.

**If You Wish For Truth To Show, Give Into A Harsh Sun Glow**

"The truth to show?" Fishlegs questioned, reading the words out loud. "What do you think that means?"

"Beats me, I just now noticed it was there." Ruffnut grabbed the book out of his hands.

"Hey!" Fishlegs wined.

"What I don't get is how you even saw that!" She exclaimed, flipping back through the pages. "I flipped through this thing like three times!"

Fishlegs groaned, and pulled the book out of her grasp.

"Hey." Ruffnut wined.

Fishlegs eyed her. "Not so good on the other side is it?"

Ruffnut crossed her arms and scoffed as Fishlegs resumed in inspecting the riddle. "Now let's see, hmm, it said the Sun's glow, so that could mean sunlight, which would mean sunlight could be the way to find the truth." Fishlegs talked to himself, pondering over the words. "If that's the case, then perhaps this book is some sort of map, but we may only be able to use it during a certain time of day; now there are three significant times for the sun to show out: sunrise, sunset, and high noon, all we need to do is find the right one and-

"Oh for the love of Freya, JUST HAND IT OVER!" Ruffnut yelled, slapping the book out of his hands, ending his babbling and walking over to the desk in the far corner of the room.

"Ruffnut, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Fixing a problem." Ruffnut said cooly, taking the book in one hand, and a flamed candle in the other.

Fishlegs felt his heart drop. "RUFFNUT NO!"

Ruffnut gapsed, almost dropping the book in the process. "What the-"

"STOOOOOOPPPPP!" Fishlegs tackled her to the ground, making her drop the candle, yet the book still stayed in her grasp.

Ruffnur struggled under the boy's weight. "Get off me!" She demanded.

"You were trying to burn it."

"No...I...WASN'T"! She screamed, scrambling to crawl her body from under his. Releasing her arm and book that was crushing against her spleen. "Look!" Ruff cryed, holding the book up for him to see. Fishlegs's jaw dropped open as he glossed over the pages. Right in front of his eyes, letters and words began appearing on their own, across the pages. "Invisible ink!" He breathed out, pushing himself off Ruffnut and taking hold of the book. "Of course! Ruffnut, how did you know?"

The girl shrugged. "Easy. No one would just leave an empty book in the Hall of Records, which means _the truth_ it was talking about, had to be in the book. And the words said _a harsh _sun glow, and the only thing harsher than the sun, and glows, is fire."

Fishlegs blinked. "Wow, I had no idea you could do that."

Ruffnut furrowed her eyebrows. Did he just insult her. "And what's that suppose to mean."

"Well it's just that-"

"You know I'm a lot smarter than you think I am." Ruffnut snapped, anger begining to rise. "Just because I like to have a little fun, doesn't make me an idiot."

"No, no, I never said that." Fishlegs exclaimed.

"Whatever, just forget it." Ruffnut claimed. "So what does the book say?"

Fishlegs shook his head as he went through the pages. "It's kind of hard to make out. These words don't look like normal norse language, I think this is ancient scandinavian, like what Gothi writes down with her cane."

"So what?" Ruffnut asked, leaning her back on the wall. "I thought you knew how to translate her stuff."

"Yeah, but that's simple sentences, I've never seen the language written so impressively like this, it may take me awhile to study."

Ruffnut let out a heavy sigh, hitting her head on the wall. "And how long is that going to-

Her sentence was cut short, by the sound of a squeaking door. Quickly, before Fishlegs had time to argue, Ruffnut snatched back the journal and tucked it in her vest, before who ever came in could see it.

Snotlout walked in through the door. Surprised, but still keeping the vest hidden within her vest, Ruffnut walked over towards him. Once he noticed the two, Snotlout's own eyes immediately narrowed at her, mimicking both shock and suspicion about the other's appearance. "What are you two doing here?

"Nothing." Ruffnut rushed.

"N..nothing." Fishlegs's stuttered.

"Nothing?" Snotlout asked. "The two of you, alone, in the Hall of Records, in the middle of the day? Seems a little more than nothing if you ask me."

"Well nobody asked you." Ruffnut argued. "Besides, what are you doing here yourself?"

Snotlout chuckled, and gave back a sneer. "Nothing."

Ruffnut took his mockery as a threat, and put herself up to his height. For several moments, Ruffnut and Snotlout just stared straight at each other, both with questionable glares and daring sneers, neither looking away from the other, and neither willing to stand down.

Fishlegs put a gentle hand on Ruff's shoulder, signifying that now was not the time for petty fighting. Ruff looked to him and breathed in a sign, this wasn't the time or place; she needed to keep her priorities straight. "We should get going, sorry to bother you." Fishlegs spoke for her, leading the two out the door. Ruffnut gave one last frown at Snotlout before Fishlegs closed the door behind them.

Once they walked far enough to keep themselves out of hearing range, Fishlegs stopped, and turned to face Ruffnut. "Okay, what was that all about?"

"Ask _him_, he was the one the barged in and-...and...aaAAAHHHHHH!" She screamed.

Fishlegs tried to cover her mouth, before they caused a scene. "What is it, what's wrong!"

Ruffnut felt something burning her to the very core, sizzling inside her chest. She tried to squirm and wiggle it out of her, it felt as if a blazing fireworm had crawled up into her-

Vest...

The book!

Fishlegs in vain, tried to hold her arms in place, but Ruffnut put up a fight, desperately shuffling her arm into her vest pocket and tried to find the object. True to theory, Ruff pulled out the little black book, now burning at the flesh of her hand, and dropped it down onto the ground, prompting Fishlegs to release her. Both turned around at where Ruffnut flunged the book across the hill. Immediately, the book moved! Opening itself up, flipping it's pages to the near-end middle, exactly where the riddle was written down.

Ruffnut freed herself from Fishlegs loosened grip, and slowly walked over to the magic item.

"Ruffnut, stay back." Fishlegs warned, though ignored. As Ruffnut gently brushed the pages against her fingertips, before picking it back up. Her eyes popped open as they traced over the paper. "Legs, you need to see this."

Fishlegs positioned himself beside her as the book began to change. In pitch-black ink, words began to write themselves in a neat line.

**"Need Some Help?"**

"AHHH TALKING BOOK!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "What the...how the..WHAT! Ruff gave him a good slap to the back before the boy started hyperventilating. "Will you calm down, trust me, I've seen stranger." Ruffnut added, getting a quick shiver at the memory.

**"Is That A Yes?"**

"Depends." Ruffnut commented, turining her attention back on the book. "What kind of help are you talking about?"

"Ruffnut!" Fishlegs hissed. "It's a talking book! How can we be sure we can trust this thing?"

**"Do you have any other choice?"**

"The book's got a point." Ruffnut said, igniting small irritation from Fishlegs, as the words appeared upon the page. "So what kind of help are you planning on giving us?" She asked again.

**"A tip."**

"A tip?" Fishlegs asked. "What kind of tip?"

**"Katherine should be leaving the Hofferson house any minute now."**

"And?" Ruff asked.

**"The house will be empty, but the mirror will be there."**

"Alright then." Ruffnut nodded shutting the book. "Come on Legs, the sooner the better."

"Wait, your just going to take it's word for it, (no pun intended)?!" Fishlegs exclaimed, already still trying to process what just happened; he just _conversed_ with a _book_! But not just that, the girl beside him was going to just trust some freaky, voo-doo, witchcraft, magic; just like that! No questions asked. He knew the twins weren't that sharp, but he didn't imagine Ruffnut to be so thick. Or insane.

The girl-twin shrugged. "Hey, the journal said it best. What other choice do we have?"

Really, _that_ was her logic here, Fishlegs thought it over. "But what if it's a trap?"

"But what if it's not?" Ruffnut confronted.

"But...but-

"But nothing." Ruffnut ended his stubbornness. "Now do you wanna continue a debate about it, or do you want to get to the mirror?"

Fishlegs heaved a breath of surrender. There was no-way he could win an argument against the queen of arguing herself; besides...she did have a point, as much as Fishlegs hated to admit it. "Mirror..." He muttered, earning a satisfied grin from Ruffnut.

* * *

><p>"Why did you drag me out here, again?" Tuffnut asked, as he felt himself being dragged across the village towards the Hofferson house-hold, still deprived from any information from either his sister or friend. His sister had been really dragging him around a lot lately, it was really starting to get on his nerves.<p>

"Just shut up, I'll tell you when we get there." Ruffnut urged, becoming quickly annoyed by her twin's stubborn efforts to make her answer him. Eventually they made their destination, only a few yards from the Hofferson house, and as on time, the door to the home, swinged open. Ruff could see Katherine rushing out the entrance, hardly bothering to sloppily slam the door back into place, as she ran out, scarcely hitting other neighbors as she sped across. "_Now where are you in such a hurry to be?" _Ruffnut thought. She couldn't help but stare daggers at the pretender as she hurriedly ran out of her friend's house, no doubt, stirring up more trouble, where-ever she was so quick to run off to.

Ruffnut hurried herself, her brother, and Fishlegs inside the house before they caught any attention. Luckily the door had been unlocked, Katherine must have been in such a frenzy to get to where she wanted that she forgot about locking it. _"And here I thought witches could do anything, this one couldn't even seem to keep her doors locked_" Ruffnut thought.

"Um, Ruffnut, where exactly did you say you saw Astrid?" Fishlegs asked, nervously looking around the room. The idea of a witch living in here was scary enough on it's own, but even still, he didn't like the idea of breaking into someone's home, without anyone knowing; the feeling alone made him feel odd; like he was some sort-of criminal, or delinquent.

Ruffnut smiled, and crossed her arms. "Awww, why? Is the little viking scared?"

Tuffnut laughed. "If he's little, then I must be a terrible terror."

His sister rolled her eyes. "You're annoying enough to be."

"Hey, what's _that_ suppose to mean?!" Tuffnut pushed himsef up in his twins face, his fist already in punching position. Fishlegs acted fast before Ruffnut got into another fight, and attracted any unwanted attention. Grabbing hold of Ruffnut's, already tightened wrist, making her turn to face him, Fishlegs shook his head at her. Once again, Fishlegs allowed her to keep a cool and level head, and know when to stand down from the fight. With a strong will, Ruff took a few steps back from her brother and resumed conversation with the brainiac. "I saw Astrid in the upstairs bedroom, and I doubt she's been moved."

Fishlegs gave a nod, as Ruffnut lead the way to the stop of the staircase. Although she'd never admit it, walking back up these stairs were starting to give the viking girl goosebumps with the chilling memory of the events of earlier that morning. Reaching the top, Ruff took a cautionary step at the door before tuning the doorknob and opening it. The room looked just as it did that morning, with the gem coated wedding dress hanging on a hook by the window, and the dark blue bridesmaid dresses spread out over the bed.

It was strange with how quiet the bedroom was, Ruffnut had never been inside her friend's bedroom without her (fake or not) before. It seemed, empty, somehow, without another's presence. Looking around, she spotted the broad item, covered over with a white, silk drape. "Here it is."

Tuff and Fishlegs turned to where her eyes were. As Tuffnut pulled the drape down, a clear, cleaned mirror reflected their images back to them. "Woah, when did Astrid look like us?"

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Just let me see your hand." Before accepting an answer, Ruffnut fitted her hand with Tuffnut's palm, and put both to the mirror.

Fishlegs observed the action curiously. "Ruffnut, what are you trying to do?"

"Well if what Gothi said was true, and Tuff and me are defected by magic, why couldn't we defect magic from other things, like a cool anti-witch shield." Ruffnut explained, pressing her and Tuffnut's hands onto the glass.

"That...makes a lot of sense." Fishlegs commented, surprised by Ruffnut's sense of logic. Out of all the things he thought of in the Thortson twins, logical was never one on his list of adjectives.

Ruffnut scoffed. "Of course it does, I've already told you, just becau-

_"Ruffnut?"_

The room and everyone inside it froze at the sound of her name, more specifically, the voice who told it. The trio turned to face the source of the voice, the mirror. The looking-glass sparkled with blue light, and a silhouette came into their view. Shadowing her eyes from the light, Ruffnut struggled to clearly identify the shape. "Astrid?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"RUFFNUT!"

By now, the image was becoming clear. Everyone stood aghast to what they saw. Her hair in it's usual blonde braid and head-band, her blood-red skirt with skull belt; right there, for all to see, on the other side of the mirror, was Astrid.

* * *

><p>Astrid felt her heart stop at the sound of her friends, at first she believed, being in this confinement for so long had started to make her brain play tricks on her, but as the voices became clearer, and the mirror's picture started to change, Astrid knew what had happened. She had been found. She was going to be saved. Never in her life, did Astrid think seeing Ruff, Tuff, and Fishlegs would be such a saving grace for her, and yet here she was, trying to keep the tears from her eyes over the pure joy and relief of seeing them.<p>

"How did you guys find me?" She begged.

Ruffnut tried to hide her utmost happiness with a slumped shoulder. "Oh...you know me, I have my ways."

"Does one of those ways consist of pulling me out of here by any chance?" Astrid asked. Hopefully, if they could find out how to find her, they could find out how to free her, right?... Right?

"Um..." both Fishlegs and Ruffnut gulped down a nervous breath. "...sure? Tuff, press harder on the glass."

"Tuff do this, Tuff do that, blah, blah, blah; is no-one going to tell me how Astrid got put into a tiny world, because I want to go there too?" Tuffnut complained as he obliged to his sister's request and started pushing on the glass.

"Harder."

Nothing.

"Harder!"

Nothing.

"HARDER!" Ruffnut yelled.

"I'm pushing as hard as I can." Her brother argued, not enjoying the feeling of having his stomach flattened between his bones and a wall of glass.

"STOP! You're going to break it!" Astrid yelled, in fear of what cracking the looking-glass might do.

Ruffnut made her and her brother take a step back. The first time, there was shimmers, sparkles of blue light, from where the magic seemed to be retracting itself for them to see Astrid; how come now, they couldn't just go in and...ohhhh.

They can't go** in**.

"That's it!" Ruffnut looked back at her ensnared friend. "You're trapped on the inside, we're on the outside, there's no way for us to get through."

"We could smash the mirror." Tuffnut suggested.

"NO!" The others screamed in unison.

Astrid slumped her body back down to match her deflation of hope. If she couldn't get help from the outside, how was she suppose to get help at all! It wasn't like she had some amazing magic wand at her disposal. "Then how are we suppose to get me out of here! How close are we to the wedding by the way?" Astrid frowned at her surroundings. "I have no concept of time in here."

Fishlegs rubbed his arm sheepishly. "A few days..." he mumbled.

"A few DAYS!" Astrid screeched. "A wedding can take weeks to plan, how could anyone agree to this?!" Astrid knew she had been in the mirror for a while, but she suspected only a couple of days or so, Katherine had to be influencing the wedding date to some extent.

Ruffnut blew a stray hair from her face. "Katherine has her dainty little finger wrapped around practically everyone in the village." Ruffnut explained, twirling her own finger around for visual.

Astrid sighed, her nerves filling up with anxiety. "Then what can we do about her?" Astrid mimicked Ruffnut's finger twirl.

"Fishlegs, see if that book says anything?" Ruffnut instructed. Fishlegs nodded, taking the small, black, journal from his pocket, and holding it up for Astrid to see.

"What is that?" Astrid asked.

Ruffnut smiled. "Legs and I found it in the Hall of Records. But get this, it can talk!"

Astrid raised an eye. "Talk?"

"Yeah- well it writes it's own words down on the paper, and it told us how to find you." Fishlegs elaborated.

"Oh it can, can it?" Astrid narrowed her eyes down at the book. From what she could see, the pages had yellowed, indicating it was old; the leather of the cover was a shiny black, that Astrid wasn't even sure it was even leather. Her friends showed it proudly to her, but Astrid wasn't letting her guard down. "Burn it."

"What?!" Ruffnut asked.

"What?!" Fishlegs asked.

"What...are we talking about?" Tuffnut asked, only to get a slap to the head by his sister.

"You heard me." Astrid said firmly, as though she was a strict mother telling her child to throw their toy away. "That thing is dangerous, Katherine plays tricks, and there's a good chance _that_ is one of them." Astrid folded her arms. "Now burn it, unless you'd rather keep me company in a mirror!"

Ruffnut huffed out a chuckle. "Now you're starting to sound like Fishlegs; seriously Ash, what kind of trick could she pull that would lead to-WAIT!" All the pieces for forming together in her brain, and her instructions from Gothi were returning fresh in her mind. Ruffnut gave a chuckle. "So tell me Astrid, how_ exactly_ did you get yourself caught up in this situation?"

Instantly, even without a body to call her own, Astrid could feel her cheeks flame up, replaying her "adventure" back in her mind, gave back a sense of embarrassment. "It's... kind of a long story."

The three on the outside turned heads and looked across at each other and the practically empty room. Ruff smirked. "We've got time."

* * *

><p>It was halfway terrifying and halfway enjoyable for Ruffnut to hear her best friend's recount on her time with Katherine. Astrid was incredibly detailed, but the mention of Hiccup, was almost too hilariously awkward as Astrid's face turned even brighter. In fact, through half-way in the story, Astrid requested, (or more like threaten to rip both their arms off) that both Fishlegs and Tuffnut to leave the room, for 10 minutes, to get over her account on the proposal.<p>

"I still can't believe you said yes!" Ruffnut said, trying to form the words over her laughter.

"It was her magic, alright!" Astrid clenched through her teeth. "And anyway, that part is mostly a blur for me, it's the spell and Katherine_ TAKING MY BODY_, that mostly sticks with me." Astrid said cooly, trying to end the other's laughing.

"Um, can I just make sure we're all clear on this?" Fishlegs asked. "You're body has been stolen by an evil ghost witch, who wishes to marry Hiccup, as revenge against another girl, who she apparently holds some sort of grudge for, that ironically looks a lot like you?"

"Insane, but true." Astrid said melancholy.

"And for another unknown reason, neither Ruffnut or Tuffnut are affected by her magic."

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Astrid faced Ruffnut, who only shook her head, clearly oblivious, and just as clueless as she was about the odd detail. "I don't know, just thank the gods that I'm not, I don't wanna end up a dazed off zombie, like everyone else."

"Hey, didn't you say I was under the influence this morning?" Fishlegs asked.

"Yep!" Ruffnut said cheerfully, turning to face Astrid. "So this secret lair you talked about, it's just a big tree in the forest, with some creepy black moss on it?"

"That's the entrance, to get to the actual lair you need..-oh no." Astrid breathed, realizing she forgot one more important aspect.

"Oh no, what?"

Astrid groaned. "To open the lair you need the key. And the key is...Katherine's locket."

"Locket?" Fishlegs pondered. "You mean that necklace you and Katherine have been wearing the past few days?"

She gave a small, weak, nod. "The very one."

"Well that's just great." Ruffnut slapped her hand on her knee. "How are we suppose to get that thing, when it's _dangling_ from a the witch's neck!"

"Uh, hey, that's _my_ neck, it's dangling from." Astrid argued.

"It doesn't matter who's neck it is." Fishlegs intervened. "What matters is how we're going to get the key." The group became silent, each questioning how to solve the problem. Everyone looked around, hoping to find the solution somewhere around them, thinking over Astrid's story. Fishlegs turned to the bed, where the bridesmaid dresses were.

Wait!

Bridesmaid dresses.

A bride and her bridesmaids.

"Ruffnut!" Fishlegs yelled, breaking off the silent.

"Gah!" Ruffnut said, spine tingled by the sudden sound hitting off several minutes of silence. "What?!"

"Didn't you say you ran out of here right before you got fitted for your bridesmaid dress?"

"Yeah?" Ruffnut nodded. "So?"

"And isn't your mom a seamstress?"

"Oh yeah." Tuffnut commented. "Remember when we got in trouble, mom would stick us with her needles as punishment?" he shuddered. "One time, Ruff and I broke her favorite vase... dude, for a week, everyone thought I had the pox or something, with all those tiny holes."

"You're point is?" Ruffnut asked, curious as to where Fishlegs was going with this. The book-worm grinned at his friends. "I believe I've found us a window of opportunity, my friends."

"Really!" Astrid and Ruffnut said in unison.

"What window?" Tuffnut asked. He looked over at the bedroom window. "That window? Okay!"

"Tuff wait!"

But the male-twin already had his body half-way outside, and dangling. Within seconds he-

"WOOOooooW"

The sound of his body crashing down on the ground, made Fishlegs and Ruffnut rush to the window sill. Tuffnut was fine, as he began to hoist himself back up, placing his arms on his wobbling head. Seeing he was alright, Ruffnut scoffed. "It's so hard to be the smart one."

"So wrong window then?"

* * *

><p>Katherine rushed out of the Hofferson-house. Her new body's heart pounding in her chest, one of the 'special' parts of her spell was that now, Hiccup's soul had been formed to connect with her own. That meant she could tell when he was sleeping, when he was awake.<p>

And when he was in pain.

Going past the villagers, the witch made her way to the plaza, and behind one of the buildings. Seeing no-one in sight she smiled. Pointing out both her index and middle finger of each hand, she twirled them in counter-clockwise motion, and wrapping her arms around herself. Within seconds, bright blue smoke enveloped around her, clouding her eyes. Once the smoke cleared her vision, Katherine looked around her, now inside the chief's house, right outside her fiance's room.

But once she opened the door, Katherine felt her heart pounding faster, once again. The room was in havoc! Papers scattered across the floor, the desk was toppled over, a large pool of ink centered around a broken glass inkwell, everything was a mess. Katherine was scared; did Hiccup do this himself, was her magic really hitting at him so violently?! She knew his soul was strong, but she had no idea that it would put up such a fight.

"Hiccup?" She called out gently, still only using Astrid's voice instead of her own.

"nnnNNO,NO!" A weak voice cried out.

Katherine rushed to the side of the bed where the groaning came from. Hiccup grunted in pain, his hand clenching to his chest where his heart was located, clearly where the source of pain was coming from. Katherine turned to looks of sympathy, he looked so weak and helpless in this state. She placed a hand on his cheek. "Oh Hiccup, dear."

But he quickly turned his face away from her. "Where...where's Astrid?"

Katherine took a step back, her eyes widened with new-found fear. The words left his lips soft and uneasily, barely audible or understandable, but she knew. She knew what he said, and she knew what he knew, with a forced up smile, Katherine quickly tried to console herself.

"What do you mean?" She asked sweetly, trying once again to touch him. "I'm right here."

But Hiccup shook his head, the fear in him apparent, he looked ready to run away if the churning pain in his chest would allow him to. "Y. . You're. . . Not. . . Her!" He spat out each word between his panting of unsteady breaths, the flashings of blue and green in his eyes.

Every shaky syllable felt like a sharp dagger stabbing and turning within Katherine chest, the admiration and care that he once given when he looked at her, had turned vile, with hate and fear. She closed her eyes, taking in this new realization. For several moments, she stood there, blocking out anything besides her own thoughts, leaving Hiccup curled up in a ball a mere two feet beside her. When she opened them again, one could see they were glossed over with tears that she refused to escape.

As she crawled over to him, Hiccup struggled to get on his feet in a futile chance of escape, but the closer she became, the more the influence in him fought his rebellious spirit, strengthening the pain in his chest, making him immobile.

"There, there." She purred, petting his hair warmly. "You have no need to suffer anymore." Her voice was calm and easing to the mind as it echoed in the young boy's brain. Hiccup groaned, he could feel his grip loosening and his will fading in her words.

"I...No..." The struggle was apparent in not just his shaking voice, but also as his eyes would fade in and out from emerald green to a teal blue glow.

"Come back my dear." She pleaded, Katherine took hold of his hands, standing him up she claps her hands with his, and leaned her face to his ear. "Please come back to me." She whispered

Katherine steadily lead him out from behind the bed. "I'm not yours!" He said through clenched teeth.

"Hiccup please-"

"STAY AWAY!" With the little strength he had left, Hiccup pushed himself away from her, making himself fall onto the ground, barely escaping the pile of broken glass on the floor. The thick, sticky ink sinking into his clothes felt eerily like blood on his skin. Hiccup scrambled to get back up. Katherine grabbed his arm and pulled him back in her embrace, placing his head on her shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Please, Hiccup, just calm down, let me help you." She begged. Hiccup's head moved up to allow their faces to meet. All the raw, emotional pain, was now staring her straight in the face, the blue and green of his eyes was joined by red and puffiness, his nails became clenched on her arms. His pain, his suffering, it all was there for her to see. Katherine couldn't take it.

Immediately, she glossed her hand over him in a shimmer of magic light, Hiccup's legs wobbled and gave out. Katherine caught him mid-fall and half-dragged him over to his bed and laied him down. His eyes were open, but they were hollow and oblivious from any outside force, a clear sign that he had lost consciousness. With a sad smile, Katherine scooted his body over to the left by a few inches and made herself some room to lay down beside him.

Katherine looked over him shyly, the green in his eyes seemed to try and flicker back up, only to be pulled back down into the stormy gray and blue of her magic. He was fighting, but he wasn't going to win. His struggle, as she could tell, can only be described as desperate, feebling trying to stop the inevitable. The feeling made her heart grow sick, making her bite her lower lip. She hated this feeling; what was it? Guilt? Regret? It was hard to tell.

"Please ... just smile at me, look at me the way you did before." She whispered.

The memory of the first time they properly met, fell upon her. When they danced, the look he gave her, it wasn't of fear, it wasn't even of entranced, it was warm and kind, and genuine with care. What would it take to make him look at her, to _feel_ that way about her, again?

The realization made Katherine curse under her breath. Such emotions never surfaced with her tricks with Astrid; no, only her sister, and Hiccup made her heart succumb to such a human weakness.

"If I sing to you, will that make you smile at me again?" she asked, though she knew she would get no answer. "If I show you my love, will you return such feelings?" Katherine hated the way she sounded right now, so pathetic and desperate for affection, not for lust, not for admiration, just warm, comforting love, the kind of love Hamish once gave her, the kind of love she hoped for Hiccup to give her now.

Putting herself all but on top of him, Katherine placed one hand over his fore-head, and one hand on his heart. Her blue dipped fingernails made a small dig onto his brow, and very carefully as not to harm him, she made a quick swipe down his face. Almost instantly, she could see his eyes become full with awareness and feel his heart-beat quicken. Hiccup gave out a sharp gasp.

"No, no, dear" she cooed through his ear. "It's okay, everything is okay." But she could still feel his heart-beat pumping faster in pace.

"A...Ast...Atri-"

At the sound of him trying to cry out the other girl's name, Katherine grimaced. _"Why does he-NO"_ she stopped herself. _"This is a good thing"_. As long as she wore Astrid's body; to him and everyone else, she was Astrid, and any and all love for her, would immediately go to Katherine, who would return it happily and in full.

"Don't worry, your love is here." She purred cupping his head in her palm. "Nothing is going to take you away from me."

Hiccup's mind must have been too weak, as his previous outburst of fear before, had not reached him. Instead, the weak-minded boy had nuzzled his head deeper in her hand, gaining happiness from Katherine, who only took it a step further. Taking her other hand, she put it around the back-side of Hiccup's head in order to ruffle through rusty brown locks, and freeing her first hand from Hiccup's face, she allowed it to trail down his collar bone, making him shiver in the process, and to his shoulder.

A girl and boy, engaged to be married, laying together on a bed, wrapped within each other's embrace. How scandalous, Katherine thought, but no shame took her, only delight and excitement for her achievements. Within the quiet of there solitude, Katherine began to hum to herself and her sleeping love. His will turned out much stronger than she thought otherwise. She needed to push her limits further. Within the quiet, she began to sing.

_All by myself, waiting for a friend to show_

She didn't want to spend too much of her magic, especially when the event was coming even closer, and she would need most of it then.

_My magic won't help me now, not until you let my heart through_

Right now Hiccup was sleeping peacefully in her embrace. But his cries of terror still echoed fresh in her mind. Even with her magic, she still came at risk of losing him.

_Please stay with me_

_Don't be afraid_

Even though she knew he wouldn't hear her, Katherine begged him not to fear her. Soon enough, everything would be alright.

_I am always by your side, come now my friend_

After all the pain and torment her last, few moments of life had given her decades ago, at last, Katherine wanted happiness. She wanted escape from her torture.

_Death's sweet embrace, was once a gift I yearned for_

But she also wanted revenge, and soon enough, because of Hiccup, she would get it.

_But now that I have found you, I don't need death, not anymore_

He was the main key to her happiness. All she needed was a few more days, that's all she needed.

_Please set me free_

_You'll be okay_

Her voice made the blue flowers that she decorated his room with, glow brighter. The chilling vibrations of her sparkling hands covered around Hiccup. He would no longer feel his agony, she would release him from his pain, just as he would release her from her pain.

_I'll keep you safe_

_So I beg_

Katherine hugged onto Hiccup tightly with strong possessiveness.

_Don't go away_

_Friend. _She whispered the last line, allowing both her song, her love, and herself, to be absorbed in the blissful silence.

**(Well this chapter was a little longer than what I usually write, but I felt I owed it to you readers. Next one should be out in three days, and if it's not, I give you permission to raid my house, open my laptop, and make me finish the next chapter at knife-point. With that said Read and Review, and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**

**BONUS: Though I can't tell you what happens next... let's just say that Katherine is going to do_ whatever_ it takes to keep a group of rotten teenagers out of her way. What does that mean? What do you think it means? Tell me if you have any suggestions on what Katherine plans, or maybe why do you think Ruffnut isn't affected by her magic.**


	21. Chapter 21: Blood and Birds

**(Well it seems two days turned to twleve days. What can I say, I can't count...No I'm just kidding, the first few days were a little troubling for me, for this chapter at least, and some more personal drama creeped back into my life. CURSE YOU PERSONAL DRAMAAA- okay I'm done. So for this one, I made it extra long, almost three times as long as normal. Thank you though for not actually coming to my house and forcing me to write...except that one guy...how did he even get my address?... No I'm just kidding.)**

**(Oh, one more thing. Because of my Gamer commenter, I did some more research on those games and found one called Mad Father and used the song "Aya's Theme:Alive" for this chapter. Here's the link (**** watch?v=IN9Q3wcbAUE**** ) enjoy! Now on with the show.)**

"Are you ready Ruffnut?" Fishlegs asked expectantly.

Ruffnut gritted her teeth, just about ready to pound him. "You sure this is going to work."

Fishlegs chuckled. "Well nothing in the world is a complete 100% accurate, in fact, most things are not, you know I read a book about the philosophy of reassured events, it's actually quite a page turner and-OW!" He yelled, as Ruffnut slapped his cheek, to get him off his book rambling.

She yanked his hair to make his face meet her level. "Just tell me-" Ruffnut said through her teeth. "Is. This. Going. To. Work.?" Her voice was coated with venom and anger, here she was about to put her life in further danger, and if Fishlegs' plan didn't work, the girl had already begun to plan the terrible things she would do to him. Now she wanted his full reassurance, then she'd have more evidence to put blame (and pain) onto him.

He gulped. "...yes."

Ruffnut released his hair from her iron grip and turned over to her brother. She put a hand on his shoulder. "If I don't survive this Tuff, I just want you to know, you are the craziest, weirdest, psychotic and most disgusting worm-brain I'd ever know."

Her brother smiled, and gave a sniffle. "That was beautiful sis." He wiped a tear from his eye and gave a pat to her back. "And I feel the exact same way. Now go kick that witch's-

"Okay!" Fishlegs stopped him. "Remember the plan Ruffnut, just act natural, and I'll be there to guide you through all this."

Ruffnut nodded and gave in a deep breath, walking away from their hiding spot and back to the Great Hall, opening up the doors.

"Wow" she breathed. People were in an even faster rush than before. Men and women ran past her, carrying different plates of food, papers, fabrics, and blue flowers. Looking around, Ruffnut could barely recognize the area, Katherine's blue flowers decorated all four walls of the building, the vines twirling around pillars and windows; their fragrance was suffocating, it took all her own will power not to gag out of desperation for fresher air.

"No, I want the crystals hitting at a specific angle, just move the wire a little more to the left, and push that other one more to the right." Ruffnut turned over to the front where 'Astrid' stood, hands on her hips, looking up at a desperate Mulch, trying to straighten a large string of crystals over a silk banner, that covered the head of the room.

"Not your left, _my_ left." She instructed sternly, apparently, either too focused on the banner, or just not caring of how the ladder the viking was standing on, was wobbling.

"Uh, hey Ash." Ruffnut winced at saying the nickname she gave her friend when they were kids to the crazy witch. Katherine didn't stir though, still, looking up at the banner. Ruffnut blinked up at her silence. "Um, Astrid?"

Katherine turned around, obviously not responding to the nickname, making Ruffnut mentally kick herself. She gave a small smile. "Ruffnut dear, Heather told me you ran out." She fluttered her long eyelashes, "Is everything alright."

Ruffnut cursed under her breath. This girl was one heck of an good actress; the arched eyebrows, the sinking blue of her iris's; her sympathy was exceptionally convincing, so much so that it made her sick. As much as Ruffnut wanted to grip her neck and choke her that very minute, she forced herself back to keep her head cool. "I actually came here to.." she shuddered and bit the inside of her mouth. "To... a-pol-o-gize" Ruffnut spit out, it practically hurt to say the words.

"Oh?" Katherine grinned. "Is that so?"

"Yes!" Ruff said dangerously, swallowing down her rage. "And to make up for it, I would like to get the fitting done personally, at my house, I have plenty of material, being my mother is a seamstress."

"Hmm" Katherine tapped a finger on her chin, while Ruffnut prayed she didn't notice the utter fake in her nervous smile. "I even dropped by your house and grabbed my dress and dropped it by my house, I hope you don't mind." Ruffnut said quickly.

"Well...I was going to prepare the wedding rings soon and-HEY, straighten that!" Katherine ordered to Mulch, trying to keep his balance on the rotting wooden ladder. Ruffnut looked away sheepishly, Katherine gave off the cold demanding voice that Astrid would sometimes use whenever she was serious about something, and it still that brought shivers to the spine. "Anyways..." Ruffnut hurried. "Can we go?"

Katherine beamed. "Oh, of course dear, you've already took your dress to your house, so-" she shrugged her shoulders. "Might as well." But her smile quickly left as she turned to glare at Mulch. "And when I get back, that banner _better_ be symmetrical with the others."

Mulch gulped and nodded.

As they walked away and out the door, Ruffnut could almost swear she heard a crack, fall, a yelp, and the flap of fabric.

* * *

><p>"I can't tell you how pleased I am with your excitement over this...it's actually a little surprising." Katherine said.<p>

"Uh, huh." Ruffnut shrugged off, turning her head up, down, left, and right, across the path, looking for the sight of a husky blonde Fishlegs._ "How can someone his size hide so well?"_ she thought.

"-and of course next to the dress, the rings are the most important, I mean, the entire plan would fall apart without them and...um Ruffnut, are you alright?"

"Huh" Ruffnut asked. "Oh, yeah, sure, why?"

Katherine frowned. "Well I'm getting the feeling you're not listening to me, you seem a little distracted." She turned to block Ruff's way and raised an eye. "Are you _sure_ everything is alright?"

Ruffnut blew a stray hair out of the way. "Oh, yeah, totally I..." She paused, her eyes turning to the right. Fishlegs had his head poking out from a stray bush, her head cocking to where he was, giving a quick wave to her.

Katherine put her hand on her hips. "Okay, what are you staring at." She huffed, turning herself around.

"WAIT!" Ruffnut yelled, grabbing her shoulders, before she turned and saw Fishlegs in the bush. Katherine looked extremely irritated, grabbing Ruff's own wrists, and taking them off her arms. "What now?!" She demanded.

Ruffnut gave one quick look where Fishlegs quickly ducked back into the bush, before turning back to the witch, who tapped her foot impatiently. "Well?"

"Oh, I..um, thought I saw a...spider?"

"A spide-

"Yes, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it" She nodded her head nervously, grabbing hold of the other's hand. "Oh look, my house is only just a few feet away, let's get inside, now!" Ruffnut quickly pushed the bride-to-be, in through her door, and slammed it shut, giving off a breath of relief. "Now, um..." Ruffnut hurried to where she pre-laied out the dress and some of her mother's extra materials. "Let's get started!

The witch gave off a huff. Why did this girl have to be so aggravating and strange? "Fine" she said dryly. "Just take off your clothes so I can put the dress on you."

Ruffnut nodded, taking off the vest, but quickly paused when she remembered who would be watching. Her head peered up to the window. Fishlegs's face was bright red, shaking his head so quickly that Ruffnut couldn't tell whether it was his sign of aborting the mission, or he was just unsure if she should look away.

"Uh...can't I just put the dress over my clothes?" Ruffnut asked shyly.

Katherine turned around, the dress in one hand and a pin cushion in the other. "What a peculiar thing to say?"

"I'm just not, _comfortable_, with being bare, you know?" Wow, how awkward was that?! Trying to explain an excuse like that. In truth, just saying something like that made Ruffnut crack her knuckles, not that such a thing was true, she had bathed in the river around other women plenty of times; it was having to sound like a petty Roman girl that made her stomach churn. She dared for an eye to sly over to the window, Fishlegs gave a thumbs-up symbol to her as gratitude. Well, at least someone felt better over this. She herself, felt her pride deflate a little over sounding so squeamish.

Katherine looked over her suspiciously. "I see." She murmured, but her brow immediately arched back up with sympathy. "So that's why you ran out earlier."

Ruffnut cringed. "Y-yes."

She chuckled. "I completely understand." she said, patting Ruff's shoulder, in a friendly manner that made Ruffnut want to puke. "Here, arms up." Katherine instructed, pulling the dark blue fabric over her slim figure. Smoothing it down, the bride-to-be looked over the sight. Her eyes went up and down, and back, observing the front and back of the dress. Katherine looked up at her deeply. "Something's missing...I just don't know what."

Ruffnut's head perked up, by an idea. "You're right, something is missing, maybe a piece of jewelry...say a necklace?" She asked expectantly.

"That's rather specific?" Katheirine commented. "No, wait!" She snapped her fingers. "I know what to do." Taking a firm grip on one of Ruff's braids, she pulled and began unbraiding it.

"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Ruff demanded, trying to take her hair back, Ruffnut's hair was already long with it braided; if someone undid it, the entire thing would cover the house like a carpet! It would take her forever to try and get this tangled mess back into a tye!

"Oh come now, I'm helping you." Katherine encouraged. "Now just hold still and-" she paused, her face scrunching up. She wiggled her nose, slowly holding the hair up, she took a small breath in. "What is that! Fish oil?"

"Yeah."

Katherine shook her head. "We'll just have to get it washed before the wedding then." Undoing the last hair twist, Katherine smoothed out the greasy blonde walks. "Well..." Katherine started. "the hemming is a bit long... but I think that's the only problem, tell me what you think."

The witch, put her palms on Ruff's waist and forcefully turned her around to the mirror, they kept in the corner. Ruffnut felt her head go light, inspecting the reflection; this person in front of her, couldn't _be_ her! Could it? The gown went a few inches past her feet; a dark blue hue, with white lace covering the bottom, and the top sprinkled over with small cyrstals. Her hair was down, passing her feet, small waves of curl she didn't even know she had, were now able to show. The sight was pretty, but is wasn't recognizable, and the feeling twisted at her stomach.

"Left you breathless I see." Katherine teased.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. _"Oh shut up Ash."_ She mentally came-back._ "Wait..."_ her eyes widened. _"Did I just-"_ For a moment there, she forgot who she was with, it felt like she was with...a friend? _"NO!_" she stopped. _"That's just what she wants, it's nothing but an act." _

"Now let's see what I can do with that hem." She took the pin cushion in her palm and knelled down to Ruffnut's feet, carefully, using two fingers to push or poke strands of hair out of her way, clearly not comfortable with the greasy particles. "You know, I'm really happy you're getting so interested in the wedding."

Ruffnut gave no comment, now with the witch distracted, Ruffnut put her face back up the window. Fishlegs had his head poked out, but strangely though, his face was still red? Why? She had the dress_ over_ her clothes. Ruffnut waved her arm at the window and mouthed a silent **"Hey."** Fishlegs shook his head and gained back focus. Ruffnut crossed her arms and mouthed out **"Well?"**

He stayed quiet for a minute or too. The look made Ruffnut mentally chuckled, she could practically see the wheels in his head turn, peering in the room with her, thinking over a solution. It was when that his brown eyes shined brightly, that she knew he found something. Nodding happily to her, he mouthed it out.

Ruffnut shook her head. She couldn't understand it. **"What?"** she mouthed.

Fishlegs try to mouth it out again.

**"What?"** she mouthed again.

He slowly moved his lips out for her to understand. What she could gather was a two-syllable word, first in a **"Ah"** shape, them an **"Ur"** shape.

_"Otter?" _she thought._ "Hotter?" "Starter?"_ . "**What**-OW!" She shouted out, feeling something forcefully stab the soft part of her skin near her ankle.

"Oh, I am so very sorry." Katherine breathed. "I thought I felt a stubborn piece of fabric." She lifted up the end of the dress. Ruffnut began to feel her skin chilling and slow drips of liquid coming out. "Oh dear." Katherine added. "I better get that cleaned; where's your water?"

"Oh it's over-" "_Wait Water_!" Ruffnut thought. She eyed the bush. "Yeah, the WATER, is by the corner." Fishlegs looked to her, smiled, and nodded, ducking back down the bush. Ruffnut's eyes brightened, now she remembered, she knew what to do because she did the exact same thing to Fishlegs two years ago when she wanted the fish-scale bracelet he got from his uncle. "Here." Ruffnut grinned. "Let me help you get it."

She went over, and bent down to help Katherine lift the large bucket of well-water, her grin deepened once she got the other end of the bucket, drips of water sloshing out, showing how full it was. "Careful, this thing is heavy." Ruffnut gripped her end tighter and began to hold it higher._"Just a little more force"_ she thought. The water started to tip down to the other direction. "I would hate to...oh, OH NO, I'M LOSING BALANCE! The wooden bucket tipped farther until Ruffnut finally and completely let it go and-

_**"SPLASH"**_

Katherine gave out a scream of shock. Her entire outfit, from her lavender scented hair, to her gray silk slippers were completely soaked. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Ruffnut had to bite the inside of her mouth so hard, she felt bits of blood come out, in order not to lose herself laughing. "So sorry Ash." She grabbed a dish-towel. "Here, let me try and keep you from dripping so much." Ruffnut used the towel on the other girl, patting her clothes and rubbing on her hair and neck, pushing some of her hair out of the way, so to help dry her off easier. "Thank-you for helping me with the fitting, you already pinned at the hem, I'm sure my mom can take it from there." Ruffnut said as she dryed. "You better go home and get in another change of clothes." Looking up at the sorceress, Ruffnut grinned. "A future ruler shouldn't be seen like this."

Katherine paused, taking a step back, when Ruffnut repeated her own words from earlier, back at her. But it was only for a moment; quickly, she straightened her back, and nodded. "I suppose you're right." Katherine commented dryly, as if she were a queen talking to one of her lowly subjects. "Good-day." And with high-pride, she pushed her shoulders back, and walked out the door; her slippers squishing as she walked.

Once Katherine was far enough where neither could see her, Fishlegs walked through the door, to find Ruffnut on the floor, roaring in laughter. "AH AH AH AH, DID...DID YOU SEE HER FACE?! PRICELESS!" Ruffnut continued. Fishlegs rolled his eyes, though couldn't help but chuckle when remembering the scene. Pulling her up, he put two hands on her shoulders in attempt to calm her down. "So, does this mean you got it?"

Ruff wormed out of his grasp and took a few steps back, not laughing, but still with a full-bred cheshire-grin. She held out a closed tightly fist, and slowly opened it up. "What do you think?" A gold chain fell out; held at the top by her two fingers, and dangling on the end, was a glittering locket.

* * *

><p>"So this is the place." Fishlegs commented.<p>

"A tree." Snotlout said aggravated. "You guys dragged me out here for a tree." He looked up at the sky, the sun was still up, due to it being summer time, but even still, supper was going to be served soon, and he didn't want to miss it. Especially if all these guys wanted to do was stare at plants all day.

"Just give me a second." Ruffnut rushed, becoming impatient as she glided her fingers across the tree; this was the only one with black moss on the side, so where was that stupid lock-hole-thing Astrid talked about! "Really, why must everything be so _difficult_." she growled.

"Yeah." Snotlout added. "Well I'm just going to go back to the village, and you guys can come with me when you gain back some sanity, so-

"FOUND IT!" Ruffnut yelled victoriously. The blonde turned to the brunette and smirked. "Tell me about you're _sanity_ when you feast your eyes on THIS!" She pushed the locket in the knot-hole. Within seconds...

Nothing happened.

Snotlout laughed and shook his head. "Well, see ya" He mocked cheerily.

"No, wait a minute." Ruffnut stopped him, grabbing his arm and digged her nails in his elbow.

Snolout groaned. "What?" This girl was persistent, he had to give her that.

Ruffnut stayed quiet for a few seconds. ". . .it was upside-down." She unclawed her hand from his arm and took out the locket; taking an extra look, she put it back in the hole. "Okay...NOW feast your eyes on THIS!"

Within seconds, the charm hummed and glowed, wrapping it's glimmer into the outlines of the tree bark. The blue then shaped itself around the knot-hole, revealing a hatch, that now opened itself up for visitors.

"Oh" Fishlegs started.

"My" Ruffnut added.

"Dragon snot." Tuffnut nodded.

The others turned back at Tuffnut with either question or irritation. Fishlegs smacked his forehead and shook his head slowly. Ruffnut rolled her eyes, taking her brother's helmet off his head, she whacked him in the face because of his stupidity. Unintentionally, Tuffnut yelped, tripping and falling down on the ground, and began rolling down the hatch steps. Wincing at each step down.

"Ow"..."Ow"..."Ow"...

"Ow"..."Ow"..."Ow"

*oof* Guys, I found the bottom." He called out. Seeing her brother was alright (physically at least), Ruff huffed, shaking her head and heading down the stairs with Fishlegs following pursuit. But Snotlout stayed up near the entrance, still trying to grasp what was shown to his very eyes. "So wait, you guys aren't questioning this? At all?!"

"Eh." Ruffnut called out nonchalantly. "We've seen stranger. Now hurry up, OH and don't forget the locket."

Snotlout gulped. They were kidding right?. . . Apparently not. Heaving out a huff of defeat, Snotlout put a foot on the first step, it was either go down there, or be branded a coward. By the time he made his way down, Ruffnut had been tapping her foot impatiently. "Took you long enough!" she snapped, torches had lit themselves up for the group, no doubt a charm Katherine placed for convenience. Ruff turned to a large stone door that laied in her wake. She rubbed her hands together as she looked over her last obstacle greedily. "Now we can get started." Ruffnut grabbed out for the latch.

"Ruffnut wait!" Fishlegs pleaded. "Astrid said this door was protected."

"So what? I'm a anti-magic shield remember?"

"Yes." Fishlegs sighed. "But who knows what will happen if you break through a secured and protected door, for all he know it'll summon Katherine to us, or send a shock wave of lightening at all of us! And we aren't all protected like you."

"What the heck are you guys talking about!" Snotlout cried out. Magic, shields, lightening, and who the heck was Katherine?! Snotlout ran his hands through his hair gruffly. If he saw one more crazy thing, he felt like he'd might burst from the craziness.

But all three ignored him, Ruffnut shrugged Fishlegs off and breathed in an "alright" and observed the symbols on the stone. "Sooo... how did the combination go again?"

"Um..." Fishlegs paused. "I don't remember."

"Well neither do I!" Ruffnut shouted. "So what now?"

"Pick the five pointed star; turn the three ringed circle; press on the arrow head; and knock three times on the rose symbol." Tuffnut said nonchalantly.

The other three turned to him, all too shocked to respond. "Tuff?" Fishlegs asked carefully. "How did you know that?"

The male-twin shrugged. "Don't know." He turned over to the wall and began to move to his own instructions. Once he did, he moved out of the way of the door handle. "So do you want to open the door, or do you want me too?"

"Move out of the way!" Ruffnut pushed him out of her way, hiding her shock, embarrassment, and slight envy with how her idiot brother just re-did the code. Holding on the knob, Ruffnut turned it and yanked at the door. It made a loud creak as it opened, small bit's of dust remaining from Astrid's first visit revealing themselves out.

Within those few seconds of the door opening out, Ruffnut felt her heart jumping around in circles around her chest. What was there to find? Would she see potions and amulets, books of spells...maybe a few piles of bones! It was like her mind had been split, half wanted to run away back up the stairs and forget she saw any of this, before she joined her friend in a magic trap; yet the other half filled with curiosity for this new, mysterious adventure, anticipating the epic battle against an evil witch.

Ruffnut lead her group into the antechamber. Within the first few footsteps in, her eyes popped open, somehow paralyzing her feet from continuing, and making her voice box freeze inside her throat. Her eyes darted all across the room; potions laied scattered on a wooden work bench, a tall bookcase was pushed up against the granite wall, she could only guess what kind of torturous spells lived within them, and a dark crimson curtain was decorated near it.. And yet, how strange? As they moved further into the room, the surprise soon faded within the teenage girl until it was no longer attainable; the lair was close to how she imagined, yet still different. But even still, she felt no fear, nor worry, or even bewilderment. But why? Had she really gone through so much in one day that she no longer could be fazed by even the creepiness, of a dank, moldy underground cavern, whose only light came from the quick movements of a flames candle light?

Ruffnut shook her head. _"What is she doing to me!"_

* * *

><p>Katherine trudged across the land, her clothes and hair now beginning to stick to her flesh like glue, as her slippers continued their irritating squishing sound in-between her toes. "I should have burned half her hair off" she grumbled. <em>"Maybe when this is all over, I'll let her wake-up underwater."<em> Katherine chuckled at the thought, approaching the Hofferson house. Opening up the door, and letting herself in, she saw Astrid's mother look to her, surprised by her early come home.

"Astrid you're drenched!"

_"Oh! You don't say?"_ Katherine mentally commented in her head. But on the outside she gave out a weak and tender smile. "I'm afraid so, a little accident, nothing to fuss over though." She shrugged off, playing her part as the loving daughter very well, and began to wring out her hair with a comb laying on the table. Pressing it through soft blonde locks, she took a minute or so to examine them. Her old hair was much prettier than this, blacker and softer than the finest raven feather, and when wet, would show off a deep blue shade in sunlight; much better than compared to the mucky dead-hay hair color this body gave off.

_"Hamish loved my hair."_ She thought. _"As did Aggie."_ When the two were very little, Katherine's younger sister would always try to play with her hair; and once she began courting the chief's son, Hamish did the very same, combing through it and using tufs of it to tickled her face. Her hair had been a rare aspect in the village and became one of the things she took great pride in. And the memories kept a warm feeling tingle through her chest. Though, at the thought of her long-dead fiance, came memories of her newly found love-interest, and their previous confrontations.

Katherine hated this. She hated having to fight so hard for his affections, she hated having to look like someone she wasn't...she hated having someone be afraid of her.

_"No, STAY BACK!" He yelled! _

_"I'm not yours"._

_"You're not her."_

His voice echoed in her skull. Why wouldn't it go away! Couldn't he see she wasn't doing him any harm; if you wanted to be technical, you could even say she did less to him than Astrid did, the girl who always seemed to beat him (or anyone else for that matter) at the drop of a spear. How was _she_ the bad guy here! Why couldn't he just...just...

"UGH!" Katherine groaned, throwing the comb onto the ground, making a large crackling sound once the bone comb hit the floor, alarming the mother of the house.

"Astrid! Astrid what is it?" She asked, rushing over to her daughter, who now succumbed herself to the floor and began picking up a few tips of easily breakable bone that chipped off the comb. Filling her hands with bone, 'Astrid' laied them on the kitchen table.

However; upon realizing she allowed her facade to fade, Katherine swore under her breath. Mrs Hofferson asked her a question. She couldn't just very well say nothing, vikings were a stubborn race, and one way or another, they'd get you to talk, and she couldn't just say nothing; nobody yells out in frustration, breaking off a comb, for nothing!

"Astrid dear?" her mother spoke softly. "Something's wrong. Is it the wedding?" she asked, tucking back a stray hair behind the young bride's ear. Normally, she wouldn't be acting like this to her child, a viking needed to learn how to face it in the world, they had to grow out of nightmares and child-hood fears on their own; parents weren't suppose to coddle, but still, with everything that had happened, a mother needed to guide her daughter into wife-hood. So here she sat, petting her child's cheek. "Dear, if you want, we can rescheldule the-

"NO!" The bride-to-be screamed. Starling the older woman. "No, it has to be on the exact date, exactly!" She punctuated. Shaking her head, she calmed her panicked train-of-thought and resumed to sweet, calming girl. "Mother, can, can I ask you something?"

The older woman shook her head. "Of course, what is it?"

She could see her 'daughter' shift uncomfortably, refusing to meet her eyes, as she continued to wave out tangles in her hair with the half-broken comb. "Mother, if you did something, something that, though you knew it would give you something you wanted _desperately_... if it came at another's expense, could you go through with it?"

Mrs Hofferson eyed the girl carefully. "Well, I suppose, as with everything, you need to decide for yourself whether or not the goal justifies the means." She explained, 'Astrid's' head shrank back down, obviously not hearing the answer she wanted to hear. Seeing this, the mother took hold of the young girl's chin, in order to properly meet her disappointing eyes and smiled. "But I know the girl I raised, the one who never let anything stopped her, but was also smart enough to know when to pick her fight." Mrs Hofferson let go of her chin. "You know what's best Astrid, after all-" her eyes brightened. "You learned from the best."

Katherine chuckled. "Thank-you that was very helpfu-OHH!" Like a trail of ice had made it's way under her skin and down her spinal cord; the witch shivered, the cold spreading down her arms and torso. _"That can't be right."_ she thought. _"Only if someone had-"_ Katherine reached to her neck but felt it bare! Her breath caught back mid-way, she began to panic; wrapping her palms over her neck and chest frantically, smoothing out her clothes in vain for a hidden pocket.

It wasn't there.

But how? Did Ruffnut have it, but how could she? How could-...wait! The water! Katherine replayed the events in her mind. It wasn't an accident. Smoothing out her hair, and drying her off. _"That little sneak!"_ Katherine thought. Of course, how could she had been so blind. Katherine realized early on, that for some odd reason, those twins could not be drawn by her magic, that meant having to keep a close eye on them. And yet they had been able to get past her? How dare they! But with the wedding, and being with Hiccup and...- No! Now was not the time for excuses.

She grew a large, excitable smile. "Thank-you again mother, I should probably go see if Ruffnut has finished the hem of her dress yet." With a single nod, Katherine walked out and exited the house. Closing the door behind her, she leaned her self against the wood, closing her eyes for a single moment of sheer silence. But then she decided to break it. Like that of man gone insane, the witch started to laugh, laugh out a cruel, dark, cackle.

"Heh, heh, she thinks she's so smart." Katherine giggled. "She thought she'd change the game on me. Well then-" She opened up her blue orbs, they grew a shade darker, filled with a returned hunger and lust for blood. Regret and second thoughts now had left her conflicted conscious. "I suppose it's my turn to play now."

* * *

><p>"This place is amazing!" Fishlegs awed at the room, immediately heading to the tall bookcase, grabbing at covers and flipping through pages. "I didn't even know any of this could be possible! Look!" He pointed out a inscription in a large red book. "This spell can let you see in the dark, I could read all the books I wanted and not have to burn a candle." He spoke gleefully.<p>

"Wow Fishlegs." Snotlout said cheerfully, putting a hand on Fishlegs shoulder. "You can even make the impossible feats of magic sound lame."

"Hey I wonder what this does." Tuffnut grabbed a bright colored orange vial. Before anyone had a chance to stop him, the male-twin accidentally lost grasp of the slippery glass and dropped the potion. Once the glass shattered, a small break of orange smoke covered his small area, making the others take several steps away from him. His sister waved her hands out as the smoke cleared and approached her brother.

"Tuffnut I swear, if you have a tail, you're are sleeping outside tonight!" Luckily though, Tuffnut looked normal and alive. But he wasn't moving. Ruffnut blinked and waved a hand in front of his face. "Tuffnut?"

Her brother gritted his teeth, he was standing up, but both his arms were in front of his head, in self-defense of when the smoke came out. "I...can't...move." He mumbled out. Ruffnut could see small shakes of his arms and legs, but indeed, it was as if her brother had been frozen. "You idiot." She smacked his head.

Just like a statue, the force of her made his entire posed body fall down, his elbows hitting the sandy floor and hoisting up the rest of his body. "I...need...to...scratch my nose."

"Oh I think I saw this in one of these books." Fishlegs pointed out, flipping back through one of the larger stacks of spells. "Here it it. A Still-As-Stone Potion, seems fairly simple to make, all you need is some mud-weed, a little honey, half a cup of-

"How long does it last?!" Ruffnut asked.

Fishlegs frowned. "Uh, I don't like being screamed at. But it should only be about 10 minutes or so." Fishlegs closed the book and walked over to the twins. "In the meantime, we should probably get this cleaned up." He pointed to the broken glass. Bending down, he began picking up individual pieces ever so carefully and delicately to avoid cuts, and deposited them in a wooden waist basket. He was just about done, when a peculiar sound stopped him. Footsteps.

Turning around, he could see Ruffnut almost as still as her brother, sensing the danger as well. With the sound of loud footsteps getting louder, and without thinking, Fishlegs and Snotlout ducked under the workbench and Ruffnut dragged her frozen brother with her behind the curtain. Each person holding their breaths and each praying for the volume of their heart beat to lower, all waited for who the intruder was.

The footsteps soon ceased and became replaced by the sound of a stone door opening up. Ruffnut glared as the figure came in. Her squished slippers were now night-black heels, creating the mocking footsteps she heard. Katherine pushed back a stray blonde hair and eyed her lair closely. With a sigh and a smile, she let herself in. "Oh it feels so good to be back." She walked over to the work bench, brushing her fingertips on the wood. Her eyes gave subtle glance at the wait-basket, but only for a moment before she continued walking around, toward the bookcase and curtain near it.

"I've always loved this curtain." Katherine said loosely, allowing her hand to drape across it. "So deep a red, like the thickest blood."

The words that came from her friend's voice made Ruffnut shiver, trying to push herself as far back as she could, whilst still holding on to her lack-of-balance statue brother. "But's it been here so long." She heard Katherine comment. "Maybe I should move it to another part of the room."

Katherine's grin deepened as she could almost feel a nervous shake of movement within the fabric. "But I suppose that can wait for another time." She drew her hand away from the curtain, and to the bookcase. "For now, I have work to do." The witch darted down, mentally counting the number of books in her bookshelf. "Hmm, I could have sworn I had more than this."

Fishlegs almost bumbed his head on the table, clenching even tighter to the three books he had. Katherine scanned her eyes on the lines of knowledge, until they had landed on a deep red cover. Yanking it out, she traced her digits over the large, gold trended letters. "Sombre de Magica" she read out. The witch gave way a light giggle, like a young child over their first pet. "You." she caressed the book with a finger. "Are going to give me everything I've ever wanted."

The sorceress looked back around the room happily, holding the spellbook close to her chest and skipped around in a full circle. "And to think, after all these years, all it took to make it happen-" she darted her eyes to the curtain. "Was to trick one stupid, barbaric, blonde teenage _tramp_."

Ruffnut felt her blood boil, and heart-rate pumping. She could feel the angry energy gripping in her veins. To be called a whore was one of the, if not the greatest sign of shame and insult in their culture. Naming someone such a thing was not taken lightly, and for Ruffnut, this was no exception. _"I'm going to make this witch, wish she stayed dead."_ she thought, squirming in her hiding place, too angry to stay still.

The moving curtain was caught in Katherine's vision, yet she kept her actions subtle. "Well I should go, there's still so much to do." The loud tap of her footsteps against the stone steps had come back, but grew fainter with every minute, until it finally returned to silence, indicating that the enchantress was gone. With the danger now pass, each teen took a breath of relief, Fishlegs and Snotlout crawled out from under the table and Ruffnut angrily ripped out the curtain with one hand, and dragged her brother with the other, who was now twitching to gain more movement.

"I'm going to kill her." Ruffnut spat angrily, dropping her brother and marching past the other two. "I'm am going to go up to her, and stab her a few twenty hundred times until she bleeds to death." Ruffnut was about to go back up the staircase, until Fishlegs blocked her path. "Wait a minute Ruffnut, we can't be irrational about this." He opened back up one of the books. "See, look, according to this one, it says that a soul needs a functioning vessel to live; killing Katherine in Astrid's body will officially kill both of them."

Ruffnut growled at him. "So what do you want us to do?"

Fishlegs huffed. "Well, I believe we should-" He gulped, his mind turning up a blank. "Well...we could...we could..."

"We could what?" Ruffnut demanded.

"Well...

"What!"

"I DON'T KNOW ALRIGHT!" Fishlegs screamed. And that was the moment that it hit him. Fishlegs didn't know what to do. Up to this point, he had been helping Ruffnut with her obstacles, and that was it. That's all he had been. Fishlegs was the smart guy, he was the helper, the one who found the information, and every time he had the one to follow someone else's lead.

Find information. Helped and check!

Get to the mirror. Helped and check!

Get the locket. Helped and check!

Go to the lair. Helped and check!

Fishlegs wasn't the leader, he never wanted to be one. Hiccup was the leader, and Astrid was his second-in-command, both were book-smart and street-smart, and ready to give the orders. But now both were unavailable to him. Ruffnut was an improviser, but she was too reckless, and yet, was all he had at the moment to follow; but he couldn't just let her go out and kill herself! And now _she_ asked _him_ for direction.

Ruffnut took his silence as a steady answer. "Fine." she snapped at him. "She's probably gone now anyway." Ruffnut took a few more steps up. "I need some air." And exited the room.

* * *

><p><em>"How could he?"<em> She thought. That squirmish, cowardly, little fish. She should have expected this, it was just like Fishlegs to run from a fight, to cry in the sight of danger. He'd probably let her friend die if it meant saving his own back. Ruffnut allowed these cruel thoughts to help fuel her already blossomed anger to Katherine, as she stomped out the wide-opened hatch. But it was the sound of a loud roar that paused her angry track.

A dragon roar. A zippleback roar. The same roar she heard that morning. Her dragon (dragons) were in trouble. Without even thinking first, Ruffnut broke out into a run, she hardly felt her feet hit the dirt before they were back up in the air, and driving her deeper into the forest. The sound of her dragons' roars turned into cries and to Ruffnut's horror, into whimpering sniffles, turning louder the closer she felt towards them.

The trees and branches bended out of her way, in order not to stop her. Ruffnut finally found herself at a clearing where the cries were the loudest. Her heart stopped at the sight. Up, tangled within dozens of large tree branches, each glowing bright blue, were Barf and Belch, snapping at the entrapping wood, that only squeezed tighter at their body, and wrapped around both necks, choking the two-headed reptile. The sight made tears blink across the girl's eyes, her beloved dragon was in absolute pain, their shouts of agony filling in her ear drums.

"You know, I usually try to keep from hurting living things, it's so barbaric."

Ruffnut turned around, seeing the cruelness of a ghostly witch approaching her, her right hand opened up, matching the bright glow on the tree branches. She walked confidently towards the mortal being, her grip on the dragon apparent, keeping Ruffnut from making a move.

"But, you see, I've been waiting over 85 years for this plan my dear." Katherine explained, her voice rising. "And I'm not about to let some high-strong mortal teenager take it aWAY FROM ME!" She screamed, and without further warning, attacked Ruffnut and pinned her to the ground. Ruffnut struggled under her weight, she had to admit, the girl was strong, of course it was Astrid's body.

"Sorry about this, but with my magic having no affect, I have to do it the hard way."

Ruffnut shook her head. "Let go of ME!" Freeing a leg, she kicked at her opponent's chest, hard enough to push Katherine a few feet away from her. Gritting her teeth, Katherine quickly stood herself up, and gave Ruffnut a breathy laugh. "Heh, not bad." She put a hand on her belt. "But I've seen better."

Katherine drew out a hidden dagger, and broke into a run at Ruffnut. Luckily, Ruffnut saw it in time, and pushed her body away from her target, however, it didn't stop the blade from barely hitting her arm.

Ruffnut drew a small hiss as the knife whizzed a little cut onto her fore-arm, she paused the instinct to cover it, and kept her focus on her attacker. Her breaths were heavy, she was weaponless, her dragon was trapped, and her friends were either held back by magic or just too many miles away from her. But Katherine had a dagger, and perhaps even more than that, and though she couldn't use magic on Ruffnut, she could use it on herself, she wouldn't get tired, and she couldn't be hurt.

Katherine smiled as though reading her very thoughts. "Well, it seems you're beginning to recognize your own uselessness then, you know you can't beat me."

Ruffnut grew silent, and didn't bother in leaving a comment. She was right. She couldn't beat her, no matter what she did, defeating Katherine would be next to impossible, especially in this situation. In all her life, Ruffnut had never felt so useless. Katherine took advantage of Ruffnut's sad processing of what was happening. She grew a quick sprint with dagger pointed out, aimed for Ruffnut. But unfortunately, unlike the first time, Ruffnut was not as quick to dodge. The sharpened piece of metal sliced through the soft flesh of Ruffnut's shoulder.

"I've always believed magic to be the most efficient way of dealing with someone." Katherine slowly pulled the blade out of the other girl's shoulder. "But this works too."

Her shoulder felt chilled, and stung terribly. The feeling of sticky thick blood met her hand, as she immediately went to grip the wound, however, the moment she tried to scream, she felt another hand, one much colder, yet soft to the touch, cover her mouth. From behind, Katherine sliced a deep cut to her leg, making Ruffnut drop down, allowing Katherine to tighten her grip on her. The dragons tried roaring louder to alert others, but with the flick of her blue wrist, Katherine took their voices, making them mute, but still enjoyable pathetic, watching them try to cry out.

Ruffnut herself did the same, try and squirm out of Katherine's grip, but to no avail, who only seemed to hum to her misery. The witch swiped again, first on her left, then right leg, until plunging the weapon into her left knee. Ruffnut felt that she could see stars, flashed of light crossing in her vision, her body turning cold from the pain. Pulling it back out, Katherine continued to boast. "You know, my favorite color was always blue, but if I had to choose anything else, you know what I'd choose?" She whispered with cold breath.

Her victim could only wine in response, allowing Katherine to finish. "It would be red." The witch sliced again, now at Ruffnut's arm. "Such a fiery, and passionate color." Katherine darted her head to face Ruffnut's vision. "The exact same color I am going to paint you with." Saying that, Katherine gave three more slices at the other's arm.

Ruffnut tried to scream, her tears were already blurring her vision. Oh why couldn't unconsciousness just take her now? Why didn't she stay with the group? Why didn't she just stop and think before running straight into things?

Katherine was pleased by the discomfort. "Oh dear, you seem troubled, why don't I give you something relaxing to listen to while you slowly die." The sorceress pocked her dagger into Ruffnut's small stomach, and started to move it across, cutting into her; letting go of the blade and keeping it inside her, Katherine snapped her fingers.

Automatically, the sound of chirping birds filled the clearing, different species of birds started flying and perching on ready tree branches. That sound, oh how she hated that sound, those stupid birds chirping, so high pitch and annoying; everything hurt. Her clothes felt warm and damp, and her skin felt sticky with blood dripping down and across her body. Yet still, Ruffnut continued her fight, trying to worm out from the other's strong hold.

"Don't you just love the birds." Katherine said dreamily, putting her fingers in Ruff's hair. "I know I do. In fact when I was little, my mother would sing me and my sister a song about the birds...of course that was a long time ago" She ceased brushing out Ruffnut's hair, and took the knife out. "Now let's see, hmm, how did it go again..."

Katherine chuckled, giving a soft pat of her knife to Ruffnut's shoulder. "You'll have to forgive me, I'm afraid I don't remember all the words, so I'll just have to improvise a few." The witch took her blade and began to hum softly, and closely to Ruff's ear. Her sharp metal went to her chest, and began to trace the sensitive part in the middle of her bosom, brushing across the skin, not cutting, but slicing off a few hairs.

**_(Aya's Theme: Alive from Mad Father)_**

_"Little critters come to play with me; all the birdies are singing happily."_

Her knife went down past her bosom, back to the stomach, where the larger wound was, and pressed down to deepen it. Ruffnut still continued to squirm.

_"But don't you also think that they will; look prettier if-"_

She pressed harder on the knife.

_"They stay still."_

Katherine chuckled. Ruffnut tried to close her eyes, but the mad-woman refused so, temporarily dropping her weapon to reopen her eyes. And with a now free hand, Katherine conjured one blue flower in her hand, and crumpled it, allowing it's petals to fall and dye red along Ruffnut's blood.

_"The flowers red, or yellow, or blue; I will pick the prettiest ones for you"_

She had some fall down her head and face.

_"They'll make the perfect crown for your head-"_

Once again grabbing hold of her toture device, Katherine traced it across Ruffnut's neck.

_"But now all of the flowers are dead."_

She laughed loudly, with great delight. Taking the now dripping red blade off the body, Katherine placed it up at the sun, it's light bouncing off sun sparks of light on the grass, and shined it on Ruffnut's eyes.

_"Look how nice the sun on my knife, does make;_

Before having time to process, Katherine stabbed her again, forcefully in her side so deep, she would swear she felt it hit her bones. She pulled Ruffnut closer for the next line.

_"Cutting my sweet victim in her wake."_

_"But sissy says this is not allowed; so I guess I will stop this for now."_

Ruffnut felt the knife twist in her side, wiggling in her body, and Katherine slowly pulling it out, making sure to stir it in her blood like a spoon in a mixing bowl."

_"No more critters, come to play with me; I can no longer hear the birdies melodies"_

The feeling of Katherine's arms around her was no longer existent, giving her the ability to fall down on her 'good side' and crawl into a huddled ball. Katherine made the birds fly away, and stood up.

_"Well then, we should, just go back inside-"_

Placing her arms over herself, Katherine's magic erased the blood from her dress, pants, and shoes. With one last pity of a look, Katherine turned the other way, out of the clearing. Her message was clearly across, at least it would when the others found this girl, she would have to make a path for them. She left, leaving Ruffnut in a growing puddle of her own blood.

_"I am happy just to be alive."_

Ruffnut could now let her eyes close, and her cold pain was turned into a numbing darkness.

**(Well I told you she would get revenge. I told you, if you had any ideas for revenge, you should have commented, so no-one should get mad at me over Ruffnut's death-KIDDING! She's not dead...yet? *evil laugh* Tell me what you think in the comments (I love those). Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off...but coming back in a few days)**


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